The message for this morning comes at a very timely part of the year, starting here as we talk about the New Year before us, the consecration of leaders, and as we will conclude the service with the reaffirmation of our baptism trusting everyone here who is baptized to be reaffirmed.  If there should be someone here this morning that has not been baptized and would like to receive that blessing, hopefully more so after you hear the message.  I want to explain some things about baptism; the best I can do.  It’s a mystery.  The longer I live and the longer I study, the less I know it seems the more vast it is of God’s wonder and mercy.   

There’s also a light side to baptism.  There have been many good jokes; pastors and preachers particularly enjoy them.  I was searching for one and this came up because I remember the one phrase that became the title for the prepared sermon this morning—“Three Times In and Out”.  That refers to the trine baptism—maybe you were immersed and maybe you were immersed in that way where three times you go under the water, three times you come out, hopefully the third time.  But it’s a song and I was trying to search for it; and I came up with a different story altogether.  It was about an atheist and a bear.  Well, that didn’t deal with baptism right away but I guess I’ll tell it to you anyway.  You may have heard of it where this atheist was out walking in the woods enjoying creation as he understood it.  And a bear came across his path and they got into a fight.  Now most of the time you don’t win a fight against a bear but in this story the atheist was holding his own.  But eventually the bear started getting the upper hand.  And all of a sudden, without any prior talking he said, “Oh, Lord, help me!”  And just as he did that, the bear’s paw was raised like this, the trees went silent, everything stopped, and a light shone and said, “You called?”  “Oh, yeah, I guess I did,” said the atheist.  The Lord responded, “I haven’t heard from you lately.”  “Well, I don’t believe in you, but I’m in a mess here.  Maybe you could help.”  God said, “You haven’t called on me before.”  The atheist said, “Well, I guess that would be hypocritical for me to ask you to help me at this time when I haven’t really believed in you before.  So all I ask is that you make this bear a Christian so he’d be peaceable.”  And all of a sudden the light faded, went away, the trees started to move with the wind, the bear lowered one paw and put it in the other and said, “Oh Lord, before I partake of this meal…”

 It’s an oldie but a goodie.  But the one that I did find is a song.  And it’s about the preacher goes out on Sunday morning hunting and he runs across a bear also.  And he and the bear gets into a fight and you’ll recognize the chorus when I say:

Hey Lord, you delivered ol’ Daniel from the lion’s den

You delivered old Jonah from the belly of the whale and then

The Hebrew children from the fiery furnace, so the good book do declare

Hey Lord, if you can’t help me, for goodness sakes, don’t ya help that bear

Well, the fighting goes on and the song tells about running up a tree, the preacher does, and the bear shakes him out of the tree.  And they wrestle around and they finally go down into the water along the river.

They fought on down to the river, oh Lord, you should’a seen them fight

That bear was really a ‘pourin’ it’ on strong, but the preacher was doin’ all right

He fought that bear down to the water, three times in and out

Well, the bear looked away and the preacher did say, well thanks Lord, for helpin’ me out

An’ he shouted Lord, you delivered ol’ Daniel from the bottom of the lion’s den

You delivered ol’ Jonah from the belly of the whale. and then

Well, Lord it may not seem like much from where you are way up there

But the hardest thing I ever done was to baptize that bear

But baptism has its humorous points when you understand the joy of what God has done for you and to you.  Maybe that’s what Jesus felt after the baptism.  We know that in all three gospels it is recorded in the synoptic gospels.  And they are essentially the same.  John, the Baptist has been baptizing and here comes Jesus along to be baptized by John.  And we’re going to read the Matthew account in just a moment.  But also know that at the end of the baptism there wasn’t a celebration as much as moving in to a time of temptation.  So to be baptized is both a joy and a serious experience.   

Now hear and listen for some keywords of what God is doing in this action of baptism.  The taking of the action by Jesus to be baptized, John’s action, the heaven’s opening up and a voice coming from above in Matthew 3:13, “And Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to defer him saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’  Jesus replied, ‘Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.’  Then John consented.  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” 

Action on the part of Jesus and of God; but the key to this is it’s really mostly God.  It’s a revelation.  Through reasoning we can go back and study the history of the life of Jesus, the historical understanding and the content; but truly to understand and to live out in a deeper meaning, it is for God to reveal that stuff to us.  It’s not to come to God first.  In the word through the Gospel today, it must come from above. 

Perhaps more importantly, all of the gospels connect Jesus’ baptism with the work of the Holy Spirit--The dove descending, as it’s found in Luke, is the one that gives awareness that away from heaven the dove, the sign of peace, all these are actions that symbolize in Bible terms the presence of the Holy Spirit.  The baptism of Jesus was presented as one where the Holy Spirit takes over.  It’s a powerful meaning.  Is it an outward cleansing?  Maybe, but not really.  That’s why we sometimes felt in our church total about the amount of water.  Must you be immersed or not?  It only lasts but a moment with immersion or sprinkling or pouring.  It’s what happens after that that makes the most sense.  It’s the change in the heart and the mind; it’s the action of God’s Spirit.  The baptism of Jesus is a baptism where it was declared this is a special person.  In fact, this is God with you, Emmanuel.   

You know, it can be frightening for a pastor to stand up and tell you things like this.  I try to be accurate; but honestly it’s a scary thing to try to speak for God at baptisms or communions or in any thing.  I may think I put together a good sermon; I think it’s all together as it should be.  I present it and I don’t know whether it worked or not unless you tell me.  But the really frustrating part is when I put together a bad sermon. It just doesn’t go well and afterwards one of you will say, “I got it!”  And I go back and look and say, “What did they get?”  I don’t know that I said anything worthwhile.  And it says John’s probably that way.  John, the Baptist is doing his thing then all of the sudden he wonders, “Well, if they are repenting of their sins, what difference is it going to make?”  And then along comes Jesus and He asks to be baptized.  And John knows, well, this is way beyond me.  But he goes ahead any way because Jesus asks.  “In the final coming,” John preaches, “some day, some place, some how the Messiah will be hear.”  But people don’t listen and they said, “Are you the Messiah?”  And he said, “No, that’s not what I said.  I said He’s coming; He’ll be here sometime.  But it’s not me.  I can’t even tie the shoelaces of the One who comes after me.”  But then when the baptism takes place, John in a sense knows his time is done.  He’s done all he’s been called to do—to be there for that very moment. 

There’s a big difference between expecting the word of God, which I hope you do when you come here, and hearing the word of God.  I don’t have any control over your hearing the word of God.  All I can do is try and tell you something the best I know.  In baptism, all we do is provide the ritual.  There’s nothing magical that you can do for in a moment, as we will remember our baptism.  What happens is when God touches you.  Your veil is pulled back.  There may actually be a voice, a sense of God’s presence, a hearing of God saying, “You’re my special child and you are loved.”  That voice must come that way. 

It’s the only thing that accounts for us as a church and many others like us that baptize babies.  It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if it is up to the person to make a decision first and step forward.  Actually babies are advanced recognition of coming before God with nothing to claim whatsoever.  For often that child can hear God’s voice and understand that God, before we even ask, takes the action.  A baby can’t believe the Apostle’s Creed, doesn’t think theology, doesn’t do all these other things, just utterly, totally dependent upon God’s grace.  And maybe, therefore, we need to approach not just baptism, but worship, communion, and every formal thing that we do, and even more importantly, the informal things we do, the moments when you are alone with God.   

The heavens opened, the dove descended, and on the tips of our toes we want to see better.  We want to see and understand.  Its revelation and recognition that makes it possible; it’s fully on God’s side.  It always has been.  Whether it’s a spoken message or a prayer or baptism or communion, it is a miracle that doesn’t happen until God engages.  I can’t preach that well, you can’t hear that well, except by a very miracle that God helps.  Now in moments we will paint and try to put something on the outside of ourselves to make us look better to the rest of the world or maybe to encourage ourselves.  You see that’s where baptism is a beautiful thing.  It really doesn’t stay with you—not the water.  It’s something that happens for a brief moment on the outside that corresponds with an inward, spiritual moment that is for eternity. 

I just noticed the other day though the crassness of what it means to do something on the outside, to carry a symbol.  Some people carry a Bible, some people can order a credit card now with a picture of Jesus on it or your pet schnauzer if you want, I guess.  But think about that, and this is what I read; I didn’t hear it fortunately, that one is pitching that you can have the picture of Jesus because every time you use your credit card, you will be witness.  You’ll be sharing the love of God with a picture of Jesus, i.e. use your credit card more.  Well, we cringe at that; I do.  But the truth is, we fall in to that—an outward sign of looking right, dressing right when you come to church, what we think is right.  Or acting in a way that we hope people will believe the bumper sticker that we put on the back of our car.  But unfortunately, people have taken even baptism and made it in to an evil thing.  We’ve taken the word of God and twisted it to fit in our own evil desire.  There are people who have fought in wars against each other both shouting the name of Christ.  Now how in the world can that be true or right?  Both sides in brutal, religious wars shout God’s name; we live with that today.  Some have assumed in the past that it was God telling us to go and colonize Africa, Asia, South America in the age of the empire.  There were brothers who claimed that slavery was God’s will.  Now we look back on those and say, “How in the world is that possible?”  It’s possible because they used baptism to get what they want rather than letting God do with them what God wants.

This evening, as Sara Warwick shared with you, they are going to stage a prayer where they will have a voice for the voiceless.  When I heard that, I said, “That’s what we are to be about.  That’s what our baptism is.”  It’s not just baptize once and it’s over.  Even three times in a row doesn’t matter.  It’s what goes forth from that.  Reaffirming our baptism is reaffirming our commitment to indeed be the voice for the voiceless.  That’s what Jesus wants.  Same here.  It’s the experience of living out our baptism that makes us different from the rest of the world. 

 There is a story of a pastor who was offering communion in a service.  And he offered it, finished it, was back at the altar like this, was taking care the closing of the elements and covering them like we do.  He heard sort of a rustling.  The rest of the congregation saw what was going on.  A woman was pushing an elderly woman in a wheel chair from the back towards the front.  And this woman apparently just came from what I call a care facility.  And in that care facility she had deteriorated.  She was slumped over in her wheel chair.  Her hair was almost kept.  She had a look of a long, difficult, physical life at least in the last few years.  She came forward though pushed by her daughter and presented her to receive communion.  And wisely the young pastor took the elements down and everybody waited while he offered her the bread and the drink.  The young minister looked at the old woman, this physical wreck of a being.  “Not much future for this woman is there.  What can she do?  How can she live out her baptism?” would be my thoughts.  The minister looked her straight in the eye and said, “Our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood you have received, preserve your soul as your everlasting life.”  The words are the preacher’s words but the action is God’s.  God takes the action in our baptism, in our communion, in any action of the church.  We handle it properly as pastors and leaders.  We don’t always do it right or stand in the best way.  We may stumble and fall and fail in our own journey and be embarrassed by that.  But God still works with us saying, “I’m the one in charge.  You’re being baptized because I want you to be.” 

 Now you can be reaffirmed in your baptism at any given moment.  Your actual baptism may not have been that meaningful, but you can go along the journey of your life just starting off and living the way you want to and all of a sudden, bam!  Just like that, God affects you.  The once hushed heavens open up, a voice inexplicable but undeniable, maybe a vision even a bird swooping down against the wind outwardly or inwardly.  Despite all the reservations that you had before, despite all your questions and your doubts, God comes to you and you dare to wade in to the water of life, to draw near the fire of justice and allow it to make a difference.  May you today reaffirm your baptism; draw near to the fire and to the water that God provides. 

I’m going to invite Ellis Hall to come forward as Lay Leader and we are going to share together the reaffirmation.  He’s going to guide us through; it will be both projected on the screen and in your bulletin.  The reason for doing this is simply to remind us of what God has already done and continues to do.  As we ask you the questions, as we proceed through what will remind you, the Apostles Creed, and then a series of questions about stopping here but moving forward.  Take it in to yourself; that’s all we can do.  We present the opportunity; may you hear that voice, may you sense God’s presence.

 Lay Leader:  Do you turn to Christ?

All:  I turn to Christ 

Lay Leader:  Do you repent of your sins?

All:  I repent of my sins

 Lay Leader:  Do you renounce evil and the false values of this world?

All:  I renounce them

 Lay Leader:  And now I ask you to confess the faith into which you were baptized, and in which you continue to live and grow—Do you believe in God, who made you and loves you?

All:  I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

 Lay Leader:  Do you believe in Jesus Christ, your Savior and Lord?

All:  I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, 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; he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

 Lay Leader:  Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, and the continuing work of our salvation?

All:  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.  Amen.

 Lay Leader:  This is the faith of God’s baptized people.

All:  We are not ashamed to confess it in Christ our Lord.

             And now the action of moving forward for baptism isn’t the moment only for your life.  It’s the beginning.  So these questions are to the future.

 Minister:  I ask you now to pledge yourselves to Christ’s ministry in the world—Will you continue in the community of faith, the apostle’s teaching, the breaking of bread and the prayers?

All:  With God’s help, I will.

 Minister:  Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?

All:  With God’s help, I will.

 Minister:  Will you seek Christ in all people, and love your neighbor as yourself?

All:  With God’s help, I will.

 Minister:  Will you strive for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being?

All:  With God’s help, I will.

 Minister:  May almighty God, who has given us new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, keep you steadfast in the faith and bring you to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All:  Amen.

            This symbol of water is an actual need for our life, very basic, to understand that baptism is an outward action.  But I want you to remember today, to remember that baptism happens in our creation where God has made us in God’s image, it happens in our Savior as Christ is God incarnate, and it happens in our daily life as God’s Holy Spirit strengthens, guides, and directs us.  So on this day, we affirm and remember your baptism.

             Let’s join together in prayer, “It was your moment.  Our words are inadequate to try to explain or even tell the story.  It bursts forth when you bring it forth.  We thank you God that you seek us and through our baptism we seek you. In the name of Christ our Lord, Amen”

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