The Baptism of Christ                          The Rev'd David C. Cobb   Acts 10:34-38,                                    January 7, 2007                    Luke 3:15-16, 21-22                            Solemn Mass with                                                                         the Baptismal Covenant                   

The point behind any baptism is what it begins.  There is the past, now washed in stringent work of repentance and the gentle flow of grace, but the past is done and left in God's hands.  The future that opens before us is the point of baptism, and it is a future so encompassing that you can only be baptized once.  Change traditions and you might have to be recognized, or received, or confirmed.  Leave behind active involvement as a Christian, live as one who has renounced the faith, and come back; still, there is no need, indeed no possibility of re-baptism.  We might all need confession from time to time; the Eucharist is the center of our week and in places like this- it is a daily response to God.  There are endless things we repeat and to which we return; but you can only be baptized once, no matter what happens, it is enough of a sacrament to encompass whatever future lies before you. 

 

Baptism is not a once only because of us, baptism is a once only thing because what God does in this sacrament is strong enough and embracing enough to encompass all of your life; whatever lies in the past between your baptism and this moment, whatever lies ahead, all of it was taken up by God in those waters and infused with a hope that only comes from God's own promise. 

For a moment, back up from our own baptism to Jesus'.  As Luke tells the story the center of the action is not so much John the Baptist- indeed, Luke skillfully lets him withdraw into the background.  There is the great and undistinguished crowd, the sort of group that looks like us, and there Jesus was in the midst of them.  The Holy Spirit is at the center of this narrative, the power of God to create and shape and restore, the power of God at work within the world and in human life.  As Luke as told the stories of annunciations and births, it is the Holy Spirit overshadowing and filling and inspiring and revealing that gives voice to praise, that causes life to quicken and grow, that opens hearts to respond in obedience that is hope.   Jesus was baptized, and as he stands there with water dripping off his hair and running down his shoulders, he is praying.  The Holy Spirit, that rested on the waters calling for creation from chaos,  the Holy Spirit that animated prophets,  now is present enough to be visible and the Voice of the Un-begotten sounds over him: “My Son, My Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” 

 

Like your baptism, that was enough for the entire life that lay before Jesus.  This is where he stands in relation to the Father, this is what he is called to do, this is the power that will work through him as never since the beginning of creation, to do Good, as Peter said, to heal those under evil's power.  Everything that Peter summarizes so swiftly and that we will follow in the weeks and months ahead, from this moment through the cross to the Table where he found them after Easter, to the day of Pentecost, when he pours out on the Church this same fire and spirit, all of it is encompassed in this moment, in the anointing of the Spirit and the gift of identity given by that Voice.  . 

 

And you also have passed through these waters, or at least God is calling you to these waters.  And there, Jesus pulls us close to him, so that that he receives reaches us, so that we can hear the Voice as it announces: “My child, my beloved.”  From that, you have a store of grace and a sense of whose you are, that you will never exhaust and that the changes and chances of this world can not exhaust. 

 

And so, when we take up the baptismal covenant, we reach into this one life-embracing gift and recall what God has done for us, and what the Holy Spirit is doing within us.  With Jesus, we stand in the waters, in the very heart of the eternal Triune God. 

 

The Covenant begins with what God has done, in the creed we describe the very nature of the world, as God's own gift, we repeat, as Peter does, in summary what Jesus Christ has done in his life, death and resurrection, and then we turn to the Holy Spirit who creates this new body, the one holy catholic church and the communion of saints, which is nothing less than creation in God's plenteous intentions.  This is the way the world is and we believe it, even as we question and test it, forget and misunderstand it, live it and too often betray it, we believe this, about God, about the world and about ourselves. 

 

And then the questions turn from God's gifts to our response.  The first grounds us in Church, in a life of disciplined prayer and thoughtful belief, in fellowship with all the saints and with each other.  The second challenges us in two ways, there is a reality to good and evil, and that our call is to work for the good and resist the evil, our actions matter.  The second challenge is to face the fact that we will fail.  And that the path back goes through the hard work of repentance.  Last week- did you have the chance to do good, did you fail? Did you see evil and remain complacent?  This question probes you at exactly that point. 

 

So far we have spoken our convictions and described the life we want, shaped by prayer and informed by doctrine and the sacraments, and conscious of the weight of word and action in a world where evil is destructive and good so precious. We are people who believe, who pray and who strive towards what is right and good.  Then we are turned towards others.  Our prayer and our understanding of the faith leads towards a way of life and a conversation that lets others know this good news, “Will you proclaim the Good News of God in Christ?”  There is something here, in your hands that you need to give away.  Faith, hope, and love, a life that is grounded in God's goodness and that is headed towards God's kingdom.  Preach that, and as Francis is reputed to have said, use words if you have to.  What do the people around you know about the world and about God?  Sometimes you have to name your faith and talk about what you believe about Jesus-  more often you can act in a way that speaks loudly.  The point is to be conscious and determined in your life and not afraid to speak, and to do it all in a way that is consistent with Christ's own gentleness. 

 

Then the question turns towards how you see your neighbor and the people around you, can you look at the face of another person, start with the one closest to your hearts, can you see them as Christ's own?  Can you look at the stranger, the dis-orienting and confusing other you don't understand- can you look at that person and see that person as Christ's own?  Act like you can, and you will.  And whether or not we see each other that way, Christ does.  We worship Christ in this place, reverently and deliberately acknowledging the Presence, through  Gospel Word and Sacramental sign.  Go out and recognize Christ in others- and you will complete your worship in service.    The final question firmly turn us outwards.  Human dignity, justice, peace.  Like baptism, which encompasses and enfolds our entire life's journey- those words challenge every action, every decision, every response, they judge and inspire, they take what we believe about God and God's world and makes it the purpose and the point of our living.  . 

 

That was a bit tedious, I suppose, working through those phrases you know probably as well as I do, but somewhere in those questions, or in the ways we honor them or forget them, somewhere there is the fire of the holy spirit, the fire that John says  will consume our dross and chaff, and clarify our souls;  somewhere in there is fire that will give light and heat and energy so that we can live what we believe.  And it is enough, for the week ahead or for a life time.  By water and the Holy Spirit, with fire to refine and fire to give energy.  Jesus' baptism encompasses the world's renewal; ours gathers an entire life into God's kingdom. 

 

You only need this baptism once, it holds so much promise and opens us  to such a new world;  once we stand with Jesus in those waters, when that Voice speaks and that Spirit is poured out, nothing will ever be the same and what begins, will never end.  We come to renew those words and to call ourselves to honest effort at being what we profess and living as we pray.  Water and words, somewhere there is a fire that will refine and renew us, that is energy and direction that no life time can exhaust and that can make our days or years the fullness of God's eternal kingdom.