Lauren, somehow, became very religious. She developed
a strong affinity for the practices of orthodoxy. This created an interesting quandary
for her. Although Lauren had been raised a Jew, the Orthodox community did not
acknowledge her as a Jew because she was not born of a Jewish mother. So Lauren
decided to convert.
This involved a period of religious education,
followed by an examination by three rabbis. Then the final step was the mikvah,
which is a ritual bath – a kind of baptism. At the appointed time Lauren
descended into the bath, completely immersed herself, and when she rose up out
of the water, she was an Orthodox Jew.
This was in December of her freshman year of
college. But even while she was immersed in the rituals of Judaism, Christ was
calling her. Jesus was slowly but surely drawing Lauren into his embrace. At
the same time she was completing the final steps of her conversion, she was
actively exploring the Christian faith. She would tell anyone who asked that it
was strictly an academic interest. But Lauren was the only one who couldn’t see
what was happening. The mikvah was almost like a baptism into Christ for her –
she just didn’t know it yet.
It was a dream that became a turning point. Lauren
dreamed about being underwater and Jesus came down to rescue her. When she came
out of the water, she was different. And when she awoke, she was finally
conscious of where she was going.
In a way, the mikvah and everything surrounding it
began a journey of folding these two identities together for her – her Judaism
and her developing Christianity. Lauren Winner is a writer who has written
about her faith journey in a book called Girl Meets God.
She is now a Christian who carries Judaism in her
body.
Lauren’s story is the church’s story. The body of
Christ carries Judaism in it, in the same way. One way we do this is in baptism,
a tradition borrowed from Judaism that became the entry into Christianity.
Jesus was baptized by his cousin John, who had become known as a baptizer. John
offered a baptism of repentance, a kind of purification. This was something
that had been a part of Judaism for centuries – the mikvah.
And the people flocked to John out there on the
shores of the Jordan. They hungered for this experience – to be refreshed,
renewed, reborn; to draw nearer to God. Jesus came, too, to receive this
baptism. And when he rose up from the water, the Spirit descended on him and he
heard the voice of the Divine saying, You
are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased. With you, I find
happiness.
Jesus was changed, in a way, after that. He was
called and claimed and began fully living into his identity. It was the
beginning of his ministry, which is the rest of the gospel.
And we, members of his body, also participate in
this ritual of baptism, because of the example he set and the commandment he
gave us: Go, therefore, and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And remember that I am with you always.
When we do this, we are participating in a ritual
that brings us closer to God. We follow in Christ’s footsteps, stepping into
the water, just as he did, and coming out of the water renewed, reborn.
When we do this, we are participating in a ritual
that gives us a new identity. Jesus heard the voice of God claiming him as his
own beloved child, and each one of us, we believe, is also claimed by God in
our baptism. In the traditional Christian baptism liturgy, the parents are
asked, what is your child’s name? This is the moment at which this baby is
introduced to the world as a child of God.
When we do this, we are participating in a ritual
that goes back through generations and millennia. The rituals of water, and its
cleansing and healing powers; the symbolic death and burial and rising again to
new life; the assertion of the power of God over the powers of evil and chaos.
We are participating in an act that is older than
time.
When God began creating the world it was a watery
chaos. Human life could not thrive there. But God’s breath swept over the
surface of the waters and meaning was born. Purpose was born.
This we read in the first chapter of Genesis, in
which the ancient people attempted to tell the story about who they were in
relation to God and the world. Water, they knew too well, is dangerous. It is a
force to be reckoned with. Water can kill and destroy.
But water is also life-giving. Life cannot survive
without water.
Water is dangerous. Water is life-giving. And only
God controls the waters.
When God’s breath moves over the waters, good things
happen: healing, cleansing, strengthening, freeing, comforting things.
The sight and touch and sound of water connect us
with all of life throughout time. Water connects us with that time before time,
when God’s breath touched the waters and blessed them, when God created time.
Ever since then people have been drawn to the water,
and not always understanding why. We just know that it soothes our souls, it
quenches our desires, it enlivens our bodies. It connects us with the source of
all life.
Maybe this is a lot headier than you bargained for
this morning. But my message to you is this: This little thing we do occasionally,
called baptism, is essential. Because it touches the deepest part of ourselves
and connects us to all the generations that came before us and those that will
come after us. It connects us all to God. and it does all this because that is
the way God has chosen to do.
In every baptism, God is naming and claiming a human
being.
In every baptism, we are professing God’s
confounding and enormous love for the world and all of us in it.
In every baptism, we are answering God’s invitation
with our “yes.”
May we remember our baptism – today and every day.
When we wash our hands, bathe a child, take a dip in the ocean, or run through
the sprinkler, may we remember our baptism and, once again, say yes.
Photo: ChurchArt.com
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