May 10, 2015 Intro to Baptism. Prince of Egypt clip (

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1 May 10, 2015 Intro to Baptism Prince of Egypt clip ( What do you think, would you walk through that water to the promise of a new life on the other side? You probably know how this story ends: the Hebrews walk through the Red Sea in safety, while the waters close in on their Egyptian masters when they try to follow. By the mighty arm of their God, the Hebrews have been saved out of slavery! And there is much rejoicing, singing and even dancing on the other side, before they go off into a wilderness journey towards the homeland that God has promised. This is the story of baptism; or rather, to be baptized is to become part of this story. Baptism is a rite of initiation by which we join the People of God, and the story of God s People is this story of Exodus, of being taken out of slavery and transformed into a new people of goodness and justice by the power of God. This is a picture of a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath. The mikveh is used as part of regular ritual purification for Jews, especially women, a symbol of being cleansed and made holy. The mikveh is also used for new converts of either gender: to become a Jew, you go down into the water to be made clean, and also to share in this Exodus story of passing through the Red Sea. You can t be part of God s People without passing through the water as they did.

2 The Jewish mikveh is different from Christian baptism for reasons that I m about to get to, but the Christian tradition of baptism has its roots in this Jewish tradition. Just like our Christian story has its roots in this Jewish story of Exodus. To be part of God s People is to join in this story of being set free by going through the water. I think that s why Jesus was baptized. You ll remember that Jesus cousin John the Baptist got his name because he baptized people in the Jordan River. The gospels say that John was baptizing people for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus had no sins from which to repent, but he insisted that John baptize him anyway. In receiving baptism, Jesus was taking the story of God s People onto himself. In Christian baptism, we are following in Jesus footsteps. And so a second meaning of baptism is inauguration. Jesus baptism led straight into the announcement of his ministry: The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and believe in the good news! Baptism is the start of something new. It s like the swearing in of a new head of state: a commitment to a new calling, a new way of life, a regime change with new priorities and vision. I m no longer in charge, it s the Spirit of God that has been poured out on me that makes the decisions around here. At least, that s the symbolism; it usually takes a lifetime or more for the reality to catch up with the intent. But baptism represents the fresh start that we ve been given. We inevitably make a mess of ourselves, but God still sees us as new and pure and holy. It s symbolic, but there s something in this water that washes us and renews us. This was what John the Baptist was emphasizing in his baptism of repentance, the start of something new. And that brings me to a third meaning of baptism: ritual cleansing is only temporary; the Jewish priests had to wash themselves anew day after day in order to go into the Temple. But in the Christian tradition, baptism renders us permanently clean by identifying us with Jesus himself. That s a loaded statement, so I ll try to unpack it a little bit. Baptism is a Christening ritual. In the secular world, to christen something is to give it a new name. We re a long way from the ocean here, but I m told that in naval culture when you launch a new ship, you christen it by giving it a name and

3 breaking a bottle of champagne across its bow. Does that extend to the boats of Saskatchewan lake culture? Anyone break some champagne over a new jetski? The champagne is for good luck, but the christening part is about the new name. In some denominations, baptism and christening are synonyms. An infant is baptized and given its name at the same time. What do you think, maybe you d like to be renamed after famous early Anaptists like Pilgram Marpek or Balthasar Hubmaier? To be baptized is to take on a new name, a new identity: Christian. But it goes deeper than that. Baptize is a Christening in the literal sense as well: a Christ -ening, becoming as Christ. In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, God is speaking to the Jewish nation who had been exiled from their homeland: 24 I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Baptism echoes this: the water poured out externally is symbolic of an internal heart transplant, the old dead heart and spirit replaced by a warm heart, a living Spirit. To be baptized is to be re-made, with a new identity. When you meet someone new, how do you introduce yourself? Hi, I m Joe, I m a pastor at Wildwood Mennonite Church. Or since in some circles that s a buzzkill, I might start with, I m Keri s husband, or those are my kids, or if I really want to stir things up, I m an American! All of that stuff is part of my identity, and I put forward various pieces of that identity depending on the situation and the impression I want to leave. All of us do this: our clothes, our choice of vehicle, the part of town we live in, our technology or lack thereof all of that tells us who we are, who we want to be, where we find meaning in life. In baptism, all of that other stuff becomes secondary. In baptism, our identity becomes grounded in Jesus Christ. The New Testament writers talk often about followers of Jesus being in Christ. We are the Body of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is alive in us. It s all metaphor to explain that which we can t really wrap our heads around: as a follower of Jesus, I m still me, but I m also no longer just

4 me. So that when God sees me, God doesn t see the imperfect sinner that I am, but the perfection of Jesus. In the words of the Apostle Paul, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. You can t get closer than in. Not saying you should introduce yourself as Hello, I m Jesus But that s what s central. The ground of my being is now Christ: beneath all the other stuff of my identity, I am in Christ. And so baptism recognizes and names this shift in identity. Baptism says this one is, first and foremost, a child of God. I think this stuff about identity is why Christian denominations have, over the years, gotten themselves all twisted up over the various ways of doing baptism. Sprinkling, pouring, immersion, in a river, in a church, baptism of infants, believer s baptism Many, many times churches and denominations have split over these details. Those who call ourselves Anabaptists today are here because our ancestors were willing to die over baptism by water. Baptism is central to our identity, it s not just a theological statement but a statement about who we are and how we see the world. Thankfully most modern Christian denominations have learned to respectfully disagree instead of killing each other over modes of baptism. But it remains a deep and important thing, personally as well as denominationally. So it s significant today that we re practicing two different forms or modes of baptism. Ian and Richard have asked for baptism by pouring, which is the tradition here at Wildwood and, for the most part, across our Mennonite Church Canada

5 denomination. Shawn has asked for baptism by immersion, and he d like to say a few words about what that means to him: Hello, my name is Shawn Friesen. I have been attending Wildwood since September and this morning I am being baptized and becoming a member of this church. However, this morning, I have requested to be baptized through full immersion. Up to this point I have never witnessed a baptism other than an immersion and at one point in my life I didn t even know there were other ways. Originally, I wanted to do full immersion because that s what I was most comfortable with, but to be honest with you, I didn t really know why people did it that way. But once I began reading about full immersion baptism, I realized just how much I loved the symbolism that goes along with it. Full immersion is meant to represent an individual s union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6:3-7 says, Don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. This morning, I want my baptism to a symbol of a death, when I am fully immersed in the water, and a resurrection, when I come up out of the water. This symbolizes a death of my old self and a resurrection into a new life with Christ. A new life where sin has no jurisdiction over me and I am alive in Christ. This is what my full immersion baptism means to me. Thanks Shawn, that s a great explanation of the meaning of immersion. That was the tradition that I grew up in in the Brethren In Christ Church, and I was baptized by immersion myself in a baptistery tank permanently installed in the front of our church. That distinguished us from our neighbors the Old Order River Brethren you can guess where they do their baptizing. We don t have a baptistery or a river handy today, so we re going to baptize Shawn outside in a sacred vessel of water that you might otherwise recognize as a hot tub.

6 If you re wondering about the symbolism of baptism by pouring or affusion (Latin for pouring), it emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts describes the Holy Spirit being poured out on the followers of Jesus, and so the pouring of the water represents the new life of the Spirit flowing over and into the person being baptized. Along with that there s an emphasis in the pouring tradition on the water being living water, water that is not stagnant but flowing. Again, it s about purification and new life. And let s be honest, just a tiny bit of the rationale behind the pouring and sprinkling is practical. Pouring and sprinkling are far more portable than immersion. And seriously, that s a significant historical reason for most churches that baptize by pouring: if there s not a river close by, or if the person is unable to get to the river due to illness or whatever, bring the river to them. (Reminds me of the story of two old preachers talking about a local draught. How dry is it? Well it s so dry that the Baptists are pouring, the Mennonites are sprinkling, and the Catholics are issuing rain cheques ) We take baptism seriously, because it is significant and full of meaning. But it s not mean to be difficult. Baptism is meant to be a gift to be freely and widely given, not a difficult hoop to jump through. Because, ultimately, baptism itself is not the point. Initiation into something, inauguration of something, identification with something. That something is the new life that we are given. It s the Kingdom of God that Jesus describes as both a present and a future reality. It s living into God s vision of our new selves, in Christ, and God s vision of the new world of love and grace and justice and goodness. It s the living that matters. The baptism is just the beginning. May God grant us the strength and grace to walk in the way of Jesus. Amen.

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