May 13, 2007 – Easter 6 – Mother’s Day
John 5:1-9, Acts 16:9-15, Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
My Godchild, Bennett, was baptized about four years ago in a Catholic
Church in Petaluma, CA. Baptisms in this parish happened in a separate
service after Sunday morning worship and there were probably about 7 or
so other families there that day whose children were also baptized.
Aside from Bennett’s baptism, the other thing I remember the most clearly about that day was meeting a little girl. She was maybe three or four years old and her little baby brother was there to get water poured over his head and the form of the cross traced on his forehead. He was there to get baptized, but that’s not quite how she put it. Instead, she told me this: “My brother is going to get bath-tized today.”
It brought an instant smile to my face – her mispronunciation, “bath-tized”, captured a deep meaning of this gift from God. It helped create an image of baptism for me as a cleansing bath, a washing away of our sin. Something we don’t do just once, but almost daily in our lives. The wisdom of this little girl was powerful. The image she provided for me that day was just one of many we can think of to help baptism make sense and be more real for us in our lives.
During this whole season of Easter, we have begun worship with a “Thanksgiving for Baptism.” And our readings today are filled with the baptism story of Lydia and her family in Acts and a lot of water imagery: The river of the water of life in Revelation and the healing waters of the pool called Beth-zatha in John’s gospel. Water imagery and baptism are huge components of our faith. Where to begin to speak about them is maybe the biggest challenge. So, what I’d like to do today is provide images for and speak to the meaning of baptism at the different stages of life: the beginning, the end and the middle.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day today, the image that is the most helpful for me as I think of the start of baptized life is especially appropriate to talk about. This baptismal image is one of birth. Just as our mothers birthed us physically in a hospital delivery room, we are birthed spiritually as water is poured on us from the font. The font serves as a sort of spiritual delivery room.
The birth that comes with baptism gives us many of the same things we receive in our physical births, but on a spiritual realm. We’re reminded of God who is our heavenly parent. We receive a new name, “Beloved”. We widen God’s family as we enter into membership of God’s whole Church on earth. Baptism serves as the starting point or foundation for our spiritual growth. It’s not an end all or be all moment in time, but a beginning or a springboard for our spiritual journeys.
Just as baptism has deep ties to the beginning of life, it also rings out at one’s death. This past week, Alice Hulme’s funeral was held here. At the start of the service a big piece of white, beautifully decorated fabric called a pall was draped over Alice’s casket. The pall helps remind us of God’s promises to us at our baptism. The promise of new life. The promise that we will receive a resurrection like that of Christ. The image that comes to mind is a swaddling of sorts.
We swaddle or tightly wrap newborn babies to keep them warm, make them feel safe and help them sleep peacefully. As a pall covers a casket, we are reminded that in our death, we are swaddled in God’s love and care and taken into the arms of our Savior where we receive eternal and peaceful rest.
Finally, I want to talk about the meaning of baptism in the middle of our lives. So often, we think of baptism as a one time event instead of a daily dying and rising with Christ. We flounder in our baptismal waters, forgetting that our baptism has provided for us a boat of sorts to allow us safe passage through the storms of life. We get caught doing the “dead man’s float” where our faith is concerned despite countless opportunities for spiritual growth through Bible study, worship, stewardship and service projects.
The last image I’d like to use as we think about baptism today is a boat. Baptism is like a boat that allows us to float in and move through the waters of life. Where you take the boat, how you use it is up to you. How your faith grows, how you live out your faith in this life is up to you. Some days, your boat is tied up to the dock not going anywhere. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a boat at all, but it feels safe and that in and of itself is reason enough to have the boat.
Most days, however, your boat is out on the water and it has several power sources. Sometimes, it’s a row boat. It’s up to you and your level of energy as to where and how far your faith goes and grows. Exercising your faith – living it out – can seem exhausting on these days. Other days, your boat is a motorboat. Your faith is powered by something totally outside yourself and it seems easy. You’re growing fast. Other days, your boat is a sail boat. The Holy Spirit is providing constant wind and all you have to do is sit back and keep your faith on course by doing a little bit of steering here and there. Your faith journey feels slow, but steady.
God’s gift of baptism can be extremely difficult to understand no matter how many years we’ve had to learn about it and live it out. The use of images can be helpful to some extent and I hope you have one or two that you use to help you stay mindful about your own baptism. In closing, I want to share a couple more ideas that you can use in your daily life to, in the words of Randy from American Idol, “Keep it real.”
These ideas come from a book on baptism by Daniel Erlander. Parents and Grandparents, you can do these things for the children in your life, too. The first one is to make the sign of the cross on your forehead during a bath or in the shower. Then, as you wrap yourself in a towel, remind your self that you are wrapped in God’s love. A third idea, remember your baptism birthday by lighting a candle and thanking God for this gift. Finally, celebrate the unique gifts of the people around you. We are created uniquely in order to play our part to build God’s family on earth.
Blessings to you as you continue to navigate and experience the journey that started with the spiritual birth at your baptism.
Amen.
Aside from Bennett’s baptism, the other thing I remember the most clearly about that day was meeting a little girl. She was maybe three or four years old and her little baby brother was there to get water poured over his head and the form of the cross traced on his forehead. He was there to get baptized, but that’s not quite how she put it. Instead, she told me this: “My brother is going to get bath-tized today.”
It brought an instant smile to my face – her mispronunciation, “bath-tized”, captured a deep meaning of this gift from God. It helped create an image of baptism for me as a cleansing bath, a washing away of our sin. Something we don’t do just once, but almost daily in our lives. The wisdom of this little girl was powerful. The image she provided for me that day was just one of many we can think of to help baptism make sense and be more real for us in our lives.
During this whole season of Easter, we have begun worship with a “Thanksgiving for Baptism.” And our readings today are filled with the baptism story of Lydia and her family in Acts and a lot of water imagery: The river of the water of life in Revelation and the healing waters of the pool called Beth-zatha in John’s gospel. Water imagery and baptism are huge components of our faith. Where to begin to speak about them is maybe the biggest challenge. So, what I’d like to do today is provide images for and speak to the meaning of baptism at the different stages of life: the beginning, the end and the middle.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day today, the image that is the most helpful for me as I think of the start of baptized life is especially appropriate to talk about. This baptismal image is one of birth. Just as our mothers birthed us physically in a hospital delivery room, we are birthed spiritually as water is poured on us from the font. The font serves as a sort of spiritual delivery room.
The birth that comes with baptism gives us many of the same things we receive in our physical births, but on a spiritual realm. We’re reminded of God who is our heavenly parent. We receive a new name, “Beloved”. We widen God’s family as we enter into membership of God’s whole Church on earth. Baptism serves as the starting point or foundation for our spiritual growth. It’s not an end all or be all moment in time, but a beginning or a springboard for our spiritual journeys.
Just as baptism has deep ties to the beginning of life, it also rings out at one’s death. This past week, Alice Hulme’s funeral was held here. At the start of the service a big piece of white, beautifully decorated fabric called a pall was draped over Alice’s casket. The pall helps remind us of God’s promises to us at our baptism. The promise of new life. The promise that we will receive a resurrection like that of Christ. The image that comes to mind is a swaddling of sorts.
We swaddle or tightly wrap newborn babies to keep them warm, make them feel safe and help them sleep peacefully. As a pall covers a casket, we are reminded that in our death, we are swaddled in God’s love and care and taken into the arms of our Savior where we receive eternal and peaceful rest.
Finally, I want to talk about the meaning of baptism in the middle of our lives. So often, we think of baptism as a one time event instead of a daily dying and rising with Christ. We flounder in our baptismal waters, forgetting that our baptism has provided for us a boat of sorts to allow us safe passage through the storms of life. We get caught doing the “dead man’s float” where our faith is concerned despite countless opportunities for spiritual growth through Bible study, worship, stewardship and service projects.
The last image I’d like to use as we think about baptism today is a boat. Baptism is like a boat that allows us to float in and move through the waters of life. Where you take the boat, how you use it is up to you. How your faith grows, how you live out your faith in this life is up to you. Some days, your boat is tied up to the dock not going anywhere. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a boat at all, but it feels safe and that in and of itself is reason enough to have the boat.
Most days, however, your boat is out on the water and it has several power sources. Sometimes, it’s a row boat. It’s up to you and your level of energy as to where and how far your faith goes and grows. Exercising your faith – living it out – can seem exhausting on these days. Other days, your boat is a motorboat. Your faith is powered by something totally outside yourself and it seems easy. You’re growing fast. Other days, your boat is a sail boat. The Holy Spirit is providing constant wind and all you have to do is sit back and keep your faith on course by doing a little bit of steering here and there. Your faith journey feels slow, but steady.
God’s gift of baptism can be extremely difficult to understand no matter how many years we’ve had to learn about it and live it out. The use of images can be helpful to some extent and I hope you have one or two that you use to help you stay mindful about your own baptism. In closing, I want to share a couple more ideas that you can use in your daily life to, in the words of Randy from American Idol, “Keep it real.”
These ideas come from a book on baptism by Daniel Erlander. Parents and Grandparents, you can do these things for the children in your life, too. The first one is to make the sign of the cross on your forehead during a bath or in the shower. Then, as you wrap yourself in a towel, remind your self that you are wrapped in God’s love. A third idea, remember your baptism birthday by lighting a candle and thanking God for this gift. Finally, celebrate the unique gifts of the people around you. We are created uniquely in order to play our part to build God’s family on earth.
Blessings to you as you continue to navigate and experience the journey that started with the spiritual birth at your baptism.
Amen.