God’s Confirmation Call

One winter day, in a city here in the south, a little boy was standing on a sidewalk grate next to a bakery. He was hopping from one foot to the other trying to keep his shoeless feet warm. As it happened, a women passing by on the other side of the street saw the frosty-toed little boy and her heart ached for him. She could see that the boy had on only a light-weight jacket and no shoes. While the sun was bright that day, the air was chilly and the wind sharp and biting. Clearly, the little boy was inappropriately dressed.

The woman crossed the street toward the boy. “Where are your shoes, young man?” she asked. Looking downward to avoid direct eye contact with her, the boy reluctantly admitted to her he simply didn’t have any.

The woman paused for a moment then said, “Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll see what we can do about that?” Taking his hand gently, she led him to a nearby department store and bought him a warm pair of socks, a new pair of shoes, and an appropriate winter jacket.

When they came back out onto the street, the little boy was so excited at his good fortune that he immediately started to run off to show his family his new gifts. Suddenly he stopped, and ran back to the woman. He thanked her and then hesitated, (this time looking straight up into her eyes asked), “Ma’am, are you God’s wife?” The woman smiled and said, “Oh no, I am not God’s wife, just one of His children”.

The little boy grinned and nodded enthusiastically in response, Then he said, “I KNEW IT! I just knew you were related to me!”

That little boy knew in his heart the nature and truth about baptism. Through our baptism we are connected to and made a part of the family of God. While it is true that there are many things which separate us in this life; our various degrees of wealth, our ethnic backgrounds, our particular interests and inclinations, our talents and abilities, etc. Nonetheless, through our baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ we are unified - made one in and through the Holy Spirit. In baptism, all distinctions are erased.

When we are baptized, whether it be as an infant or as an adult, it signifies for us that God has created new life in us and has claimed us for his very own. The ritual of baptism symbolizes our dying to one way of life, and our being reborn into the one family of God through Christ.

While it would be simplistic, if we created a linear flow chart of Christian experiences, baptism is the starting point. For it is the beginning of our walk in the Lord. It is our entrance and initiation into life with God. Everything has a beginning, and our beginning in the Lord is symbolized for us through the ritual of baptism.

I say that the ritual of baptism is for us because God has no need of such symbolism, God knows who belongs to the family. The rite of Baptism is a gift from God to us; to reassure us of God’s love for us.

In recent years, much has been made about the experience of being “born-again” and its connection to baptism. Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ claim that you are not truly a Christian until you have had a “born-again” experience. The problem with this idea is that whenever you actually try to define the parameters of what someone is talking about when they refer to a “born-again” experience the boundaries appear fluid and difficult to define.

If we use scripture as our guide, these “born-again” advocates have a point. In a sense they are right, but not necessarily in the way they assume they are right. For the type of born-again experience our Christian brothers and sisters most often stress is apparently dependent on our being willing agents. That we have the ability to choose God.

However, if you closely examine scripture, the “born-again” experiences described most often actually occur without the “willing” cooperation of the subject. For example in John chapter 3 in the exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus, Jesus is clearly talking about the actions of God carried out through the Holy Spirit - not our ability to choose one thing over another.

In baptism we die and are born anew through the power of the Holy Spirit. We become a new creation, not through our power, but through the power of God. It matters not whether we are an infant or an adult. What matters is that God has claimed us and created new life in us. A life nurtured and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Accordingly, our growth in the Spirit is not unlike our physical growth. We start out small and grow gradually, Over time, through our reliance on the power of the Spirit to guide us, we grow in our faithfulness and obedience.

As we grow into our baptismal identity, we increasingly live lives marked by grace, kindness and forbearance. The Larger Catechism, a part of the Westminster Confession, in our PC(USA) Book of Confessions calls this process of growing into our baptism “improving our baptism”, meaning we can always do a better job of truly accepting God’s forgiveness and reflecting that in our living.

In baptism God has made a covenant with us. God has promised us new life and to love us and never let us go. Our proper response to that love is to live in acceptance of God’s love, to model our lives after the example of Christ by loving each other as brothers and sisters in the faith, and to spread the Good News as we live. God wants the entire world to know that it is loved and belongs to Him through Christ?

When was the last time you shared that good news with someone?

I have heard a story about a minister who was lamenting in a congregational meeting the fact that the average person in his denomination invited someone to church only once every 18 years. At this remark, a loud sigh of relief was heard from the back of the room when one older member said to a neighbor, “Whew, I don’t have to do that for another three years”.

Inviting someone to church is not being pushy, it is living out our baptismal identity. It is a statement that our faith is important to us and that we care about the person we are inviting.

Our baptism into the body of Christ serves as our firm assurance that we are with God, and it is what gives us the confidence to reach out to the world. Through our baptism we have the full power of God to draw from.

The baptism of Christ we read about in today’s gospel passage is meant to tell us that God was, and is, fully present in Christ Jesus. This Jesus recorded in Mark is not just a prophet, not just a healer, but is in fact the very Son of God. The one we can completely trust. Our baptismal identity means we are made a part of him. Our sinfulness is sealed away from God’s sight and covered over in the boundless love of Christ.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God when we are in Christ Jesus. That bears repeating, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Does that not excite you? Does it not reassure you?

Even so, what does this new life mean to us? The truth is, our bodies still age and we die. Even though we are baptized our behavior is often less than perfect. There is still injustice and hunger in our world. What has really changed?

Christ endured the agony of the cross, and yet people still hurt each other, there is still injustice, hatred and war. What has Christ changed? What difference does he make? What difference does our relationship with him make for us?

What has changed through the grace of Jesus Christ is our relationship with God. Yes, we do fail to live as God intends us to live. Yes, our bodies wear out. Yes, there is still sin in the world. However, the final victory is won! Christ died, but let us remember he also rose from the tomb. No matter how dark the world seems. No matter how weak we often feel. The resurrection reminds us that sin and death are not the final words for us. In Christ, the forces of grace and life have defeated the forces of sin and death.

This is what has changed because of the crucifixion and resurrection, and this is what changes through our baptism - we are joined to the eternal victory of Christ Jesus.

Baptism into Christ creates us anew for life in the Holy Spirit. Our finitude and sinfulness is washed away through the waters of grace. New possibilities stand before us through baptism. We are as a newborn before God, cradled in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nonetheless, sin remains a powerful force and is always a temptation before us. Our battle is to stay focused on the new life we have received through baptism and to resist the temptation to see ourselves as God’s equal. We are not, we are God’s children.

Each day is a new possibility for us; a day filled with the promise of God’s presence. The bright future given to us through our baptism is always a possibility for us. Let us embrace it and hold it tightly to our hearts.

Yet we do have a measure of freedom. A long time ago, before the days of big drug companies and pharmacists a woman went to her doctor with a catalogue of physical complaints. After examining her thoroughly, he became convinced there was nothing wrong with her physically. He suspected it was her negative outlook on life, her bitterness and resentment and that was the key to her feeling badly.

He took her into a back room in his office where he kept the medicines. He showed her a shelf filled with empty bottles. He said, “See those empty bottles, they are all shaped the same way and look alike. Now I can fill one of those bottles with enough poison to kill a human being. Or I can fill it with enough medicine to bring down a fever, or fight an infection. The important thing is that I can fill it with whatever I choose.”

The doctor looked her right in the eye and said, “Each day that God gives us is basically like those empty bottles. We can choose to fill it with love and life-affirming thoughts, or we can fill it with destructive poisonous thoughts and actions. The choice is ours.”

What will you choose? To live in the identity God gave you through your baptism, to live accepting the confirmation call of baptism, or to deny it? God gives us the freedom to choose. When we live in our baptism and seek to “improve” it by accepting God’s forgiveness, our future is filled with joy and the love of God through Christ. The alternative is not nearly so bright. The choice is ours.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

January 8, 2006

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC