January 7, 2023
A Bath – Baptism
Mark 1:4-11
In the rhythm of the church year, we tell the story of Jesus’ life in about five months. That means we move from his birth in the manger at Christmas to his baptism as an adult in the Jordan River in about two weeks. The gospel of Mark, which we just read, does not actually have an account of Jesus’ birth. Mark simply begins with his baptism, which is another kind of birth. Baptism is where we begin too.
4 [So] John the baptizer appeared[a] in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with[b] water, but he will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. 11 And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved;[d] with you I am well pleased.”
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
For many of us, the New Year is a time for brushing up on the basics of life: the basics of exercise, the basics finances, the basics of home organization, the basics of personal health, the list goes on. For the next few weeks in our worship services, we’ll be looking at the basics of Christian worship, as we Presbyterians understand it.
There are three basics to our worship, that also form the basis for our life together as the pilgrim people of God. Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. A more memorable way to put it is the bath, the book, and a meal. These three form the center of Christian identity are the well-spring of our mission.
If you look at the arrangement of the sanctuary here at FPCA, you will see that the renovation of this sanctuary in 2015 was designed to reinforce these three basics. The chancel was brought into the center of the sanctuary. The font, pulpit and table are visually unified in our worship. Whenever you look at one, you can see the other two in the corner of your eye. That is good Presbyterian theology. Word and Sacrament belong together in the center of our life.
The Directory for Worship of the PC(USA), which is one of our several governing documents, expresses in beautiful language the central importance of the Bath, the Book, and the Meal. It says,
In Christian worship, Jesus Christ is truly present and active among us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the gifts of Word and Sacrament. The mission of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church flows from Baptism, is nourished at the Lord’s Supper, and serves to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to all. In the same way, the Church’s ministry emerges from the font, arises from the table, and takes its shape from the Word of the Lord (W-1.0106-1.0107)
In a congregation that is as active as this one is, it can sometimes appear that worship is one offering among many. On the calendar, worship sits beside classes and rehearsals and mission activities, receptions and fellowship gatherings, and committee meetings.
But in our life as the people of God, worship is not one among many things. Worship is the one thing that sparks many things. Worship sparks and kindles and nurtures. Worship gathers, grounds, nourishes, equips, and sends us to be the people of God. Worship is the center point from which and into which we move as a congregation.
One of my favorites quotes about worship is not from a theologian, but from the author Annie Dillard. She captures the truth of what we believe as well as anyone.
She writes:
“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”[1]
The waking God. The living God is present to us in worship through the gifts of the Bath, the Book, and the Meal, in the power of the Spirit. These are the basics of Christian worship. Today we begin where Jesus began, where the gospels begin, with the bath – baptism.
Jesus went to John at the Jordan River, and John poured water on Jesus’ head. As Jesus came out of the water something unexpected happened. The Spirit descended like a dove on him, and a voice came from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son. I delight in him.” These words of blessing, love, affirmation, and identity are the foundation for Jesus’ life and work.
And they are the foundation of our identity in Christ.
The wonderful, good news that is at the heart of the Christian faith is that what happens to Jesus in baptism also happens to us. The way that God looks at Jesus is the way that Jesus looks at us. What is said to Jesus in his baptism is said to us in our baptism. Jesus’ baptism is the foundation and the pattern of our own.
We are named as God’s child, we are given a divinely ordained identity, we are brought into the community of God’s people, we are sealed with the Spirit, all the promises of God become promises made to us.
You see, the sacrament of baptism is more than a sweet moment in the life of a family; it is more than a celebration of new life and the hope that babies bring; it is more than a tender time for parents and grandparents. Of course, it is all of that, but it is infinitely more than that.
Baptism is the tangible event that tells us we belong to the community of God’s people. Baptism is a visible sign that the Spirit of the waking God has made us part of God’s people. Baptism is the point in time that we can point and say we are adopted siblings of Jesus, and all of God’s promises belong to us.
One of the important records that we keep as a church is a record of baptisms, with names and dates. Our modern records are kept in a digital database, but in generations past they were kept on cards. So we have a stack of boxes in the office, with membership cards that record the names of members and former members of this church. (Here’s an example.) Why do we keep those cards? The only time we ever need look in those boxes is when someone will call and ask to confirm the date of their baptism. Did it happen? When did it happen? Is there a record of it?
This is what baptism is: an event, a point in time that be remembered and written down, that is a sign of our inclusion in the community of God’s people. This event tells us who we are and to whom we belong.
“You are my beloved child. In you I take delight.”
When we gather for worship around this font, week by week, we remind one another who we are in Christ, who we truly are, and who God calls us to be. There a thousand voices in life trying to tell us who we are and what our purpose is; baptism is the event that reveals our true identity.
Let me try to show the importance of this with a simple story, that’s a little silly but communicates a deep truth: the story of the eagle and the chicken.
When the eagle was very young, she fell from the safety of her nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought her to the farm and raised her in a chicken coop. So, the eagle grew up believing she was a chicken.
One day, a naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was true. The farmer explained to the naturalist that the bird was no longer an eagle. She was now a chicken because she had been trained to be a chicken and she believed that she was a chicken.
The naturalist knew, however, that the bird was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and told her to fly. The eagle glanced down at her home among the chickens in the chicken coop where she was comfortable. She jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do.
The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the rooftop of the farmhouse and told her to fly. The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. She jumped from the man’s arm onto the roof of the farmhouse.
The naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that the bird was an eagle. The farmer said, “It is a chicken.” The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer to the foot of a high mountain. The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky.
He said, “Eagle, you are an eagle! You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch your wings and fly.”
This time the eagle stared into the bright sun, straightened her body and stretched her wings. Her wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, she flew.[2]
Baptism reminds us that we are eagles, not chickens. This is what happens in us through our baptism. This is the importance of remembering you are baptized. This is why the font is central to our worship every week, whether we are baptizing a person that day or not. Because here we reminded of who we are, we are reminded to be the persons and the people God has created us to be.
You are a child of God. You’re not a statistic or an appearance or a job title or an age or a net worth. You are a child of God. You are not the sum total of your accomplishments, or of your experiences and travels, you are not a social media feed, or an Instagram account. You are a child of God. You are not a political label or party, or a nationality, or a citizenship status, or a marital status. You are a child of God. You not an economic unit, you are not simply a consumer or a taxpayer, you are not just a role in the family, or a role in the office. You are a child of God.
We live in a culture where a thousand voices tell us who we are, and more than ever before we are pressured to figure this out on our own. Our culture tells us to create our own identity, to build our own scaffolding for life, to go out and find ourselves, to form our own tribe, to make our own way.
Baptism is a gift that frees us from all of that striving and anxiety. Baptism tells us who we are at the deepest level, underneath labels and roles; beyond questions and feelings; beyond mistakes and regrets; beneath our changing thoughts, our changing bodies and our changing abilities. You are God’s beloved child. You did nothing to earn this identity, and you can do nothing to lose it. You are part of the community of God’s people. And how do you know? Because you are baptized.
To live into this identity, means that we reject and renounce all of the other lies. We turn away from all identities that lie to us about who we are, and claim our allegiance, and we listen to the voice of from heaven that tells us the truth: You are God’s beloved child. God delights in you.
When we worship around the font, we tell one another this truth. You are God’s child. You are a sibling of Christ. You are one with each another. You are set free from the power of sin. The barriers of race and status and gender have no hold on you. They do not define you. Your life has a divine purpose and destiny.
You are called to seek reconciliation. You are called to be a peacemaker. You are called to do what Jesus would do. You are called to seek first the kingdom of God, trust that everything else will fall into place.
You’re not a chicken, you’re an eagle! Here. Come to the water. Look straight at this font and be reminded. “You belong to the sky, not to the earth.” You belong to God, not to the world. Thanks be to God!
Rev. Patrick W. T. Johnson, Ph.D.
First Presbyterian Church
Asheville, North Carolina
[1] From Annie Dillard, “An Expedition to the Pole,” from Teaching a Stone to Talk
[2] The Eagle Who Mistook Itself for a Chicken – Sisters of the Holy Cross (cscsisters.org)