Sermon for January 9, 2005
Baptism of the Lord
“Remember Your Baptism and Be Thankful!”
Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Children’s time:
A plant “remembers” to turn toward the sun for necessary light. A dolphin
“remembers” to come to the surface for air. An infant “remembers” that
the safest place you can be is in the arms of mother or father. The
plant, the dolphin, the infant remember who they are. The baptized are
called to remember who they are—children of God.
Remember your baptism
and be thankful!
That’s what the
church invites you to do today. That’s what the church calls you to do
everyday. Whenever you remember your baptism that’s when you really
remember who you are.
What does it mean to
“remember your baptism”? Those of you who were old enough to know what
was happening to you can certainly harken back to that day: where you
were, who was standing with you, and recall that experience from your own
memory. But those of us who were baptized as infants might have a really
hard time with this. Sometimes I don’t remember what I had for dinner
last night let alone what happened to me when I was a baby. But when the
church calls you to remember your baptism the church is not asking you
asking you to simply recall a specific event in your past. The church is
calling all of you who have been baptized to remember who you are.
At the very beginning
of his ministry Jesus of Nazareth submitted himself to the water of
baptism. As he came up out of the water God announced for all to hear,
This is my Son, the Beloved.
At his baptism Jesus knew without a doubt who he was. Throughout his
ministry as he reached out to the poor, the oppressed, and the
downtrodden, he did it because he remembered his baptism—remembered who he
was. When he knelt before God to submit himself to the ultimate sacrifice
for the salvation of the world he remembered his baptism and called God,
“Abba, Father” because he remembered who he was. He returned to God after
his glorious resurrection and he knew that was exactly where he belonged
because all along he remembered his baptism and he remembered who he was.
As you know, in our
United Methodist Church we believe that baptism is not something that we
do, it is something that God does. At baptism you don’t have to do a
thing but receive the love of God and be claimed as God’s child forever.
Now when you are old enough to make mature decisions for yourself the
church does invite you to say “yes” to God on your own through the process
and act of confirmation when you first declare your faith in Christ before
the congregation. But when the church invites you to remember your
baptism the church is not asking you to remember the first time you said
“yes” to God but to remember that God has already said “yes” to you. In
the words of the prophet Isaiah as he hears God speak to the servant of
God, so you hear God say to you in your baptism,
I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have
taken you by the hand and
kept you.
This morning the church will bless
the water of baptism and make it again available to all here this morning
who have been baptized. As the water of baptism touches your brow and you
hear the words, “Remember your baptism and be thankful” we are not
baptizing you all over again, for one is baptized but once. Nor is this
moment of worship designed to be a mere memory jogger. No, this is not
merely an experience to help you remember that you once had water applied
to you. It is a sign for you that God keeps promises and never lets you
go.
There are this
morning adults, young people, and children who have not yet come to the
church for baptism. Today I believe the church says at least two things
to you:
1)
God loved you long before you were born and
God loves you now. God does not start
loving someone at their baptism. The church would have you claim with all
that you are
God’s
love for you and for your children today.
2)
The church invites you to consider baptism as the next step in
your faith journey. The
church
especially invites you to bring your children even your littlest children
before
God for
baptism that the whole church might celebrate with you God’s love for them
and
join with you more fully in preparing them for that moment in their lives
when they
will
say “yes” to God for themselves. If God would lead you to seek baptism
for
yourself, for you children, or if this service today brings questions to
your mind about
what
baptism is all about, I would invite you to be in touch with me or our
Minister of
Evangelism Bob Garner.
When you remember
your baptism you are captured again by a love that has no bounds.
When you remember your baptism you are overtaken by a divine and
infinitely patient love that is ever ready to forgive when you have
fallen, to strengthen when you have nothing left, to nourish when the
world leaves you famished, to bless when only your faith carries you
through. The church calls you to remember your baptism not so much
to remind you that you better behave yourself because, after all, you have
been baptized, and if you’re baptized, you behave! No, it’s so much
more than that—like the plant that remembers to lean toward the sun, like
the dolphin that remembers to gracefully surface for air, like the infant
that somehow knows safety is in a parent’s arms. That’s what it
means to remember your baptism.
