Baptism by Fire

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
January 10th 2010
Baptism of the Lord Sunday
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Baptism by Fire”
Galatians 3:26-27; Isaiah 43:1-7; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Today the promises made by parents many years ago are going to be claimed. Today a child of this church, who is now a teenager, will make a public profession of faith. Though he was baptized as a child and claimed by God’s promise, today he will stand up front and claim this faith as his own. It is a special and powerful moment but it is not a magical moment.
It is powerful because it serves as a reminder that God claimed him long before he could say yes. In fact, God claimed him even before his parents could say yes. That is the power of baptism. We do not see it as a magical even but an outward sign of what God has already done. And when we come to the realization, the belief and hope in the promise, we cannot help but say yes.
Today we celebrate our baptisms and what they represent for our lives. Today we say yes again. We should say yes everyday but today we take special notice of this gift from God. We believe that God has claimed us in the promise just like God called and claimed the children of Israel. We are included in that promise. It was a promise made not because of what the people had done. They were not the greatest military power in the world. They were, in fact, quite ordinary, or even despised by the world. By all appearances God had abandoned them and God speaks and says: You are not alone, you do not suffer in vain, and I will care for the children of your grandchildren.
Christians acknowledge this promise and show that belief in our practice of baptism. One of the most powerful passages on this strange practice is the passage from Galatians. It is believed that this was spoken when the newly baptized came out of the water. There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, Male and Female, for you are one in Christ. The divisions, the dividing walls of hostility are broken down. You have received a new identity. Your family just got bigger than you ever expected. And society will never be the same again. It is earth shattering news that ought to make us stand up and shout with joy – even in the bad news times.
I have not always been this excited about baptism. It seemed like something we do as a simple ritual for babies but did not have much impact for the faith. But one Sunday I watched a baptism where the pastor did something a bit different. As he walked down the aisle showing off this beautiful baby girl he said something like: We all have made promises this day. This beloved child of God is going to need to hear from us that she is a beloved child of God. She is going to need to hear this because the messages she will hear will tell her she is a sex object. Those messages will tell her she is worth less than men and white people. So this community of faith needs to lift this child up so the messages of our faith win out. What I witnessed on that day was a baptism by fire.
God tore the heavens apart and spoke. This was not simple scene that could be depicted by Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kincaid. This was a tearing apart of the natural order. God shows that in Jesus, in baptism, that nothing will be the same. But out of the torn and broken order God will bring redemption. Out of the broken places of life, new life will come. It is no mere theological assertion that in baptism we claim to participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus. New life does not come easy.
The symbolic nature of baptism is a reminder that new life does not come easy and that it will not come by our hand. The use of the image of fire is a reminder that God cannot be controlled or manipulated. Even the created order of things comes under God’s judgment. Just when we expect that things are ordered and going well the heavens will tear open and God speaks. Or so the story goes. Sometimes the heavens tear apart and our world falls apart and we cannot hear God’s voice and wonder if we have been left alone. But the claims of the promises are sure and can be trusted. And that is why we gather together to remind ourselves of what we already know. And to remind ourselves that today does not have the last word.
As we begin this New Year we do not know what will come. Some predict that our lives will be better because stocks will recover. But the truth of the matter is we will faces joys and sorrows in this New Year. There will be surprises some great and others not so great. But no matter what happens remember this: We are claimed and loved by God. Not because of what we have done, or what we will do, or how much money we have, or how much education we have, none of that matters to God. We are claimed and loved. So no matter the baptisms of fire we might face, remember that your primary identity is: Beloved child of God. Amen.