LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

           “¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.” 

      On the Sundays after Epiphany we hear the stories of the early days of Jesus’ ministry, beginning with his baptism. Jesus’ baptism reminds us of our baptism, and after this sermon we will turn with me to page 292 and in place of the Creed renew our baptismal vows.

     The renewal begins with a reaffirmation and a renewal. We reaffirm our renunciation of evil and renew our commitment to Jesus Christ. We state our belief in God the Father, in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and in God the Holy Spirit. And we make some promises to God about how we will live as baptized people. With God’s help we promise to continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. We promise to persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, to repent and return to the Lord. We promise to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. We promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving neighbor as self. And we promise to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

      It is a tall order, and if we don’t put our full trust and reliance on God we will fail utterly in every area. But with God’s help we will succeed. We are baptized. As baptized people we know God’s love and God’s spiritual support. God made us and all the world, earth and air and sea.. Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose to give us new life in him, God the Holy Spirit comes to us in power and in truth to lead us into all truth in all the power we need to do the will of God.

      God uses the simple things of life to witness to us his love, his truth, his power. God comes to us as we wash in water; he is present to us in a simple symbolic meal of bread and wine, he speaks to us in Scripture that is so simple a small child can understand it, and so complex that the greatest minds of three thousand years have not yet fully revealed its depth of meaning. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” And as St, John says (21:25) the “things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

     Over and over again on the television in the last two weeks we have seen the power of water. We grieve with the people of the countries of the Indian Ocean the death and destruction caused by the earthquake and great wave than followed it. Water has power. Water has destructive power and water has life giving power. I was born in Lewes, in lower Delaware, on  the Atlantic shore, well aware of the power of water. My early memories are of sailors rescued from the Atlantic from ships were torpedoed off the coast. My father headed the local relief organization that gave these sailors warm dry clothes, a hot meal, medical attention, and transportation on. Storms come quickly. Sea water is cold, and dangerous. Folks drown all the time. And yet water is also necessary for life. We can live much longer without food than without water. A large percentage of our bodies is water. We need water to drink; we need water to wash us clean.

      Jewish law orders a ritual bath for ritual cleansing. In the time of Jesus and John all converts to Judaism, and there were many, took a ritual bath to wash away the moral and spiritual pollution of paganism. John, in baptizing, was telling the people of Israel that they had the same moral and spiritual pollution as pagans and needed to wash that pollution away in recommitment and renewal. “⁹Do not presume,” John said, “to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” The great South African Pentecostal preacher David DuPlessis used to say, “God has no grandchildren.” Birth to godly parents gives us a goodly heritage, an example to live up to, not moral riches to squander.

           Our baptism is the beginning of our Christian life. Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his ministry. Jesus was baptized in solidarity with the renewed people of Israel. We are baptized into the continually renewing spiritual body of Jesus, his church.

        The church, the body of Christ, is as continually renewing itself as our bodies are physically renewing. It is like grandfather’s axe. The handle has been replaced three times and the head twice, but it is still grandfather’s axe. The Episcopal Church House of Bishops will meet Tuesday and Wednesday this week. All the bishops will be there. The bishops will discuss the Windsor report, and I look forward to learning their response to it. Bishop Taylor told me  he had received our response and thanked me for it. But regardless of what the House of Bishops says or does, this week or any time, we are baptized people, baptized into the death of Jesus, our sins forgiven by Jesus’ sacrifice, raised to new life in the power of Jesus’ resurrection, and we baptized people can be confident we are led by God the Holy Spirit into God’s truth with God’s power.

             Will you now stand and with me renew our baptismal covenant (page 292)

  Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?   I do.   Do you believe in God the Father?   I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.   Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?   I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, /was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended to the dead.  On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, /and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again to judge the living and the dead.   Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?  I believe in the Holy Spirit,  the holy catholic Church,  the communion of saints,  the forgiveness of sins,  the resurrection of the body,  and the life everlasting.  Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?  I will, with God's help.  Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you  fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord   I will, with God's help.  Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of  God in Christ?   I will, with God's help.  Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving  your neighbor as yourself?  I will, with God's help.  Will you strive for justice and peace among all people,  and respect the dignity of every human being?   I will, with God's help. 

May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sins, keep us in eternal  life by his grace, in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Tom Rightmyer   trightmy@juno.com

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:39 PM