Thursday, January 4, 2018

Baptisms; Reflection and Poem for January 7, 2018


A Reflection for I Epiphany                    All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC
January 7, 2018                                       Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Baptisms

Last week was New Year's Day when, over the years, I have heard - and said myself - a lot of resolutions and intentions to do things better from people hoping that just saying “Sorry - won't do it again” will make all the difference. They are tired of the past and want a new future, so they make promises based on good intentions and their own willpower. The trouble with resolutions is that putting them into practice can be an inconvenience to the way we usually structure our lives. The reason we don’t keep most of them is that they call for a change of ourselves, our lives, and we would rather say “Sorry about that” - it is more convenient.

Today is the first Sunday in the Epiphany season, the Baptism of our Lord, the commemoration of the Baptism of Jesus by John. John was baptizing people coming to him for repentance as we see in the Gospel lesson for today from Mark. It was inconvenient for they would have to travel to the far side of the Jordan and during the journey, mentally go through all of the sins they had committed, the places they had fallen short, and the hopes they had for the future. Then they would re-enact the entrance into the Promised Land by their ancestors, coming out of the wilderness from their trek from Egypt. John would meet them coming across and symbolically wash off the sins of the wilderness so that they might start over with a clean slate. He would tell them that this was a stop-gap measure for there would be someone in the future who was greater who would be walking with them and sharing strength to keep the promise they make.

This is what Paul encounters in the lesson from the Book of Acts for today; these are people who follow the teachings of Jesus and know about the Baptism of John, but they are waiting for Jesus to return. For them, Baptism was about washing away the shortcomings of their old life as a way of getting admitted to the Christian community. They are there and waiting for Jesus to return. Paul tells them that while we are waiting for Jesus to return, let us begin with the necessary inconvenience of having the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we have the strength to follow the Christ in this world.

It reminds me of a movie—oh come on now, we are three minutes into the reflection and you knew I was going to bring in a movie, so I am just not letting you wait in suspense. The movie is called The Apostle, starring, written, and directed by Robert Duval. It starts off with a minister who, in a fit of rage, kills his wife’s lover. He runs away from the law and begins a new life by re-baptizing himself and promises to do better. Baptism becomes a way of getting God off your back, a “Get Out of Hell Free Card” in this game of life. He re-baptizes himself because it is convenient; he changes his geography, he changes his name, but wherever he goes he is still the same because it is more convenient.

When I first saw the movie, I was reminded that the reason I got my daughter baptized was not because I thought I was going to change my life, nor did I really believe in God, but I did believe in Dante and his Divine Comedy and his description of the First Circle of Hell called Limbo where unbaptized good people and babies who have not sinned were kept. Dante describes the residents as those who live “without hope but are filled with longing”, a “suffering without torment”. So, out of superstition, I had her dipped by a friendly Presbyterian who was willing to help me through my fears. It was convenient.

The Greek word for Baptism comes from the Greek word for immersion or dip. It could be used as a metaphorical term like someone is baptized into debt meaning they were drowning in debt, baptized in wine meant drunk, or baptized in misery. Getting dipped or immersed was also used by some Eastern religions as a ritual way of washing away impurities of behavior, or as a transition from puberty to adulthood. Sometimes water is the symbol of death; one died to the old life and into a new through the water.

Sometimes one would be sprinkled with blood to get them ready for battle. Sometimes it was a way of a commitment to a god, to become a child of that god where the water was sprinkled as the seed of the god or pulled out of the water as out of the womb of the goddess. Sometimes penitents would pour dust over their heads as a sign of acceptance of their god’s judgment. All religions of the world recognize that humans louse up, and there are many ways to atone for that behavior. Most major religions believe in some sort of commitment process of salvation such as ritual, study or deeds; all of them are meant to be inconvenient.

So what is going on when Jesus comes to be baptized? Is it the preparation for the battle against evil, or getting rid of sins, or the humility of submission, to enter into a community or a new life of transition as he comes out of the water and the heavens are “torn open” (as the Marcan writer puts it), and the voice says that he is the chosen one? So which is it? I am in my15th year here, so you know that every time I ask, “Which is it?” the answer is usually “Yes”.

Mark has no infancy narrative or miraculous birth stories, and Mark knows Jesus was a human being so he is bound to have loused up. Mark knows that the first thing Jesus does is go into the wilderness to do battle with the demons and be ministered to by angels. Mark knows that after that, Jesus will start to gather a community around him. Mark knows that while Jesus is a human, he is also the Chosen of God, the Messiah, and he will be raised from the dead. Mark knows that when Jesus dies, the veil of the Temple which separated the holy of holies from the human precincts of the Temple will also be “torn apart” as the heavens where God dwells and the earth where Jesus lives will no longer be separate.

Mark begins the Gospel with the Baptism of Jesus as a man who is looking for something or someone out there and in here, and Jesus finds them both and they are one. Jesus lives his life and dies his death as if the common soil we walk upon is the streets of heaven, fully in the presence of God. He is not interested in self-improvement but in serving the world, to give an outward and visible witness of the strength and power of God working within ordinary mortals to redeem the world from its brokenness. He is not interested in convenience but in commitment.

Baptism is not a call to admire Jesus, but to enter into a community to follow Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that we cannot find Christ outside Christian Community. Peter Marty, the publisher of Christian Century, had an editorial this last week called Church is Inconvenient, which concludes:
As wonderful as it might be to have Christ apart from the hypocrisies and distractions of other people who believe, Christ is embedded in the church. Sounds foolish to say, but we are Christ’s body. That inconvenient claim, that we are joined to other body parts that don’t necessarily think or look like we do, can seem either ugly or beautiful. I find it beautiful.

So, how are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? How are you doing with your Baptism?

Baptisms
Saying “I'm sorry, won't do it again”,
is a way to begin putting away past
but it is just the starting line at last
coming down to put away the pain.
Buck and “sorry” gets cup of coffee,
now is that slow step by step path
which follows need to take a bath,
for that new road's tough and rocky.
Can't do it by myself. Help I'll need
entering what a new life will entail
times to succeed over times to fail
with a strength greater that I'll heed.
The heavens daily ripped open torn
as old way dies and new life is born.

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