“Baptism” on Romans 6:1-14 by Michelle Ellis - May 5, 2024

I’d like to show you something. I have a ring on my finger. This ring is special to me because Joe gave it to me when he asked me to marry him. I wear this ring everyday and sometimes I stop and look at it. It has a shiny stone in it and the stone reflects the light in lots of directions. When I look at it, I remember how Joe loves me, how fun it is to get to hang out with him, how he’s a really good friend to me, and I remember some of the hard things that we have been through together. I look at it and I remember that a big part of who I am and who I will be is being in relationship with Joe.

My mom has a special ring, too. It is from her dad, who died. She wears that ring everyday and when she looks at it, she remembers that a big part of who she is has to do with being her dad’s girl, how her dad loved her and how she loved him. Maybe you have something like that, too, a piece of jewelry, a painting, a tattoo, or a quote hanging on your wall that whenever you see it, it grounds you in who you are, who you belong to, who loves you, or who you love.

There was a man who lived a long time ago named Martin Luther. He was a follower of Jesus and he worked hard to teach people around him that you don’t have to work hard for God to love you, or do a bunch of good things for God to love you, God just does, no matter what. Even though Martin really believed that, he had a lot of times in his life when he felt sad or mad or stupid after he did something he wasn’t proud of. Whenever Martin was feeling lost or discouraged or doubtful, he would say to himself, “Martin, remember you’ve been baptized!” For Martin Luther, knowing and remembering that he was baptized, was the most important thing that he thought of to remind himself who he was, who he belonged to. When he was feeling lost Martin Luther would say, “Martin, remember, you’ve been baptized!” And he would be reminded and grounded again in the reality that he belongs to God, that God loves him and that God is always doing the work of making him new, washing him clean, calling him from death to life, that God is more powerful than anything he could ever fear. For Martin Luther, being baptized was a reality of his life that he was constantly turning to to be grounded again in who he understood himself to be. Being reminded of his baptism defined for Martin Luther who he was.

For many followers of Jesus across history, baptism was a defining life event, even more important than graduation or marriage. It was one they would look to and remember, just like Martin Luther did, to be grounded again in who they were.

Some churches that were hundreds and hundreds of years old have built-in places where people got baptized. These places are thoughtfully designed to look like wombs or tombs, to remind people that in baptism they are born again, or that they die and then rise again with Christ in the waters of baptism, just like we read about today in Romans. In the early church, sometimes people when getting baptized would take off all their clothes, go in the water of baptism naked and come out and be given new white linen clothes as a reminder of getting to take off their ‘clothes’ of the old self and put on the new life they have in Christ. In some churches, they have a fountain right at the entrance to the church and whenever people come inside, they put their hands in that water to remind them of their baptism, to remind them that their old self has died, that they are no longer slaves to sin, to death, to fear, but a new river of life is flowing in them, that Christ lives in them.

For Christians across history, baptism has been a touchstone of their lives, an experience rich with meaning, deeply celebrated by the community as one of the most defining events of a life, as important as being born.

Unfortunately, the church also has a really long history of arguing a lot about baptism. About who should get baptized, when, how and by whom. And I wonder if the memory and the weight of controversy is partly why baptism doesn’t seem quite as celebrated and central in the church today as it was. I wonder whether some followers of Jesus even avoid baptism because they simply don’t want to step into the debate or to get someone riled up because they aren’t doing it the way another person thinks they should. But there is a dear loss for us in avoiding or minimizing baptism.

In the Bible, baptism is a joyful gift, a life-defining moment of receiving our true identity in Christ. It’s an outward sign of an inner reality. Baptism is rich with images that give shape and meaning to who we really are. It reminds us that we, just like the Israelites when they left Egypt, are on a journey from slavery to freedom. That just like them, we are freed from powers that are bigger than us into freedom when we pass through the waters. It reminds us of being born again, of an experience of the waters of birth and receiving the life of Spirit, and that just like newborn babies, we are powerless to create or achieve this life of the Spirit. Just like our own physical lives, the life of the Spirit can only be received as gift. Baptism reminds us of Jesus’ death and resurrection, of how mysteriously we too were buried with Jesus in his death and how we with him are resurrected. Baptism is a picture of the Christian life, the invitation to die to oneself and to rise to life in Christ, the pattern of Christian living of dying and rising, dying and rising again and again. And baptism reminds us and grounds us again in the reality that just as surely as the one who goes down into the waters of baptism comes up out of it again, just as surely that when our lives here on earth are over, we will rise again with Jesus.

Baptism is a joyful, grounding gift for followers of Jesus. It’s not something first to be debated or avoided. It is a gift to be received, to be celebrated. We as a church here in Telkwa deeply desire to celebrate the baptisms that we are honoured to witness here whether those who come to receive baptism are babies, children, teens, adults, seniors, those new to the faith, those who have been in the church for a long time but have never been baptized, and everything in between. We have baptized little ones by this font at the front, we have baptized teens in the river and all of these have been a gift to witness, a gift to see and be reminded again that God is always doing His work of making all things new, of calling what is dead to rise again, of washing clean, of calling slaves to freedom, of calling orphans into His family.

My mom didn’t ask to be given her dad’s ring. She didn’t buy it from him. She didn’t have to work for years to prove herself worthy of it. She didn’t have to pass a test to get it. It was given to her from her dad. She only had to receive it and to put it on her finger. It was a gift to be received for her to remember who she is: a loved daughter who belongs to and is cherished by her dad. And when she looks at it, she knows that, she remembers that. Baptism is like that. It is a gift to be received. It is offered to you. It’s a gift for you to experience and know who you truly are. It is a touchstone for you to turn to and be grounded in, again and again, just like Martin Luther did. It’s for you to look to and know in a deep way, “I’ve been baptized. I’m loved by God. In him, I am a new creation, in him I have a taste of new life now and a guarantee of new life to come, I am on a journey into freedom. I may be called to die, but just as surely I will be called to rise.” Amen