Living Into My Baptism
Friday, March 5
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By Nancy Powers (G-ETS, ’06)
Pastor, Sonoma and Newton UMC’s, Battle Creek, Michigan
On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?
(Answer: I DO.)
“I do.” Those are easy words to say. What a tall order it is, though, to live out this promise in my everyday life. It somehow seems more appropriate—or more comfortable?—to say “I will, God helping me.” But the truth is, “I will” just won’t do. The time is now. The time is always now, whether I am going about the busyness of daily life, pausing to refresh in a time of prayer, or reaffirming my vows of baptism as we welcome another child of God through the sacrament. As far as “God helping me” is concerned—well, that is understood, always and in everything. Yet there is the necessity for me to affirm that I dedicate myself, my own will, to this covenant. “I do” is the appropriate response after all.
With that in mind, it’s that last part of Question 1 that stops me in my tracks. Repent of my sin? That’s more than just being sorry about my sins, those attitudes and actions and failures to act that are below the bar of the Great Commandments to love God with all that I am and to love others as myself. I have to keep renewing the act of repentance of sin, which means turning away from evil and turning toward God in Christ. That is something I need to do daily, not just when I have the opportunity to reaffirm my vows of baptism in a worship service.
Living into that vow of repentance requires that I intentionally turn toward God every day, and to be relentless in searching my heart and my life for whatever evil the Spirit is calling to my attention. That is where renouncing wickedness and evil begins—in my own heart first of all—before I address the evil I see in the world around me. I am convinced that the work of repentance, with God’s help, is vital to our spiritual health, as individuals and as a community of faith. To ignore repentance is to leave ourselves vulnerable to hypocrisy, to becoming, in spite of ourselves, more and more like the forces of evil and wickedness we seek to resist.
Let us pray: Gracious God, open our eyes to the ways we have turned away from you, and help us to turn again to the light of Christ. Help us to live in the light, into the gift of our baptism, that we might reflect your light into dark places. In Christ, who first loves us. Amen.
Thursday, March 4
By Vince McGlothin-Eller, 1st year PhD student & Assistant Registrar
From the Introduction of Baptismal Covenant IV.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ’s holy Church. We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift., offered to us without price.
Several years ago, I went through a difficult spring. As we went through Lent that year, I found that the season which can so often be one of remorse can also be a season of comfort. The idea of moving through Lent towards Baptism at Easter led me to write the following poem. These words still speak to me of our connection to Christ through Baptism.
A vision of light and love now shines into my Lenten heart.
The darkness melts away,
And my heart is reborn.
Joy rises, emptying the tomb of my soul.
The baptism of my tears is completed,
Sealed by the love we share.
Your arms enfold me in shining newness;
No longer lost and alone, we are now joined.
At the font, Lover and Beloved become one,
Their love consummated at the Feast.
We pray that love will never end;
We pray for freedom from past sin.
We love in the now,
Aware that our love continues to build –
Growing towards perfection.
We anoint each other with our passion,
Strengthened for our journey together.
Wednesday, March 3
By Dr. Rev. Al Caldwell
Mark 1: 9-11 9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.11 And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
The Boy Who Bumped His Head
A poem for Evan Taowarodom Caldwell
On the Day of His Baptism, June 2, 2007
By His Grandfather, Al Caldwell
In a hurry you were, Evan
To be born into this world
With majestic speed and unrelenting pace
You rushed forward anxious to
Fall into the strong and steady hands
Of a mommy and daddy who will hold you
In their hearts even more than in their hands.
What was your hurry, boy who bumped his head?
What race were you running that
Wonderful day on April nineteen?
In a hurry you were, Evan,
Your Mommy and Daddy waited thirteen years
Your sisters, eight and three
And Grandma and Grandpa had lost count
Yet, here you came on a race against time
And banged your beautiful hair covered head
On the bones deep inside your natal home.
Just a month old, you are, boy who bumped your head.
And already you have a great story to tell
Looked at you, the doctor did, and said,
"that's a cephalohemotoma, a bruise
Caused by coming into the world too fast."
But you, little man, who has captured our hearts,
You have a story to tell.
Some people live a lifetime and never know
They have a story worth telling,
But you, Evan, story teller in the making,
Will say to folks,
"let me tell you about the time
I bumped my head."
Just like your biblical ancestor, Jacob
Whose thigh went out of joint
For wrestling with the angels.
Like proud men who show their battle scars
Like loving mothers who share their birthing stories
Like children on the playground who
Need to have their owies kissed,
Like a warrior who has won a
Righteous race,
You have shown us your bruise
And you are like a
Wounded healer who will help to teach us
The way of peace.
So, little boy who bumped your head,
We mark you today with a different sign,
Today we will pour water on your head
And mark your face with oil
And we will trace the sign of the cross
Upon you to mark you for the one
Whose gave his life for you.
So, live into this magnificent story, Evan,
Invisible is the sign we put on you today
Yet it is as indelible as the color of your eyes
And it will wear on you as tough as iron.
Hungry, you are Evan, eating with a
voracious appetite that seems never to be filled.
May this hunger drive you deep
In life to pursue what is good and true and noble.
May your hunger move you to probe the wisdom
Of the sages and help to create
A world where people hunger and thirst for righteousness.
So, little boy, who bumped his head,
The doctor said you had a bruise
And it would go away in time
But you just puckered up and seemed to say,
"I've waited long enough; let me kiss
This world hello."
What did the psalmist say?
"Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet and
Righteousness and peace will kiss each other."
So, Evan, pucker up
And meet the world.
We hold you today under a waterfall of grace
Where hundreds of thousands of saints
have kissed the waters of baptism and
brought forth fountains of love
In a hurry, you were , Evan,
Little Boy who bumped your head,
Your life will bring you many bumps,
But know this.
You are in safe hands.
Loving hands,
You are A promise hidden deep in your daddy's heart
A love held fast in your mommy's soul
A wonder not yet imagined in your sisters' dreams
A magnificent hope for the future held in your grandparents spirit
And yes,
You are in the palm of God's almighty hands
And for that we welcome you today
As the little boy who bumped his head
and found a loving God..
Tuesday, March 2
By Rob Bruendl, Course of Study Student, Dolores United Methodist Church, Dolores, Colorado
REAFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Remember your baptism and be thankful. Amen. The Holy Spirit work within you, that having been born through water and the Spirit, you may live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
I remember my baptism, and I am thankful. Amen.
Wade in the Water Children... Read: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
I was blessed with a High School choir director who would not let us take short cuts. He would not let us sing "fluff" songs. Our concerts were filled with major vocal pieces that ranged from "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in eight parts to "All Breathing Life" that made you wonder where that next breath would come from. But what really made his eyes light up was when he challenged us with an African American Spiritual. Just imagine seventy white, suburban, pampered, teenagers being asked to become part of the culture of slavery in the 18th & 19th centuries. Perhaps we did not quite get there, but it wasn't for the lack of Mr. Stevenson's effort. He immersed us in the words and the melodies. He baptized us with the odd language and deep emotions that form the foundation on which the African American Spirituals rest.
As we formally reaffirm our baptisms during this time we call Lent, the me that is the pastor says the words as they are written in our Book of Worship. "Remember your Baptism and be thankful." But what is written on my soul, thanks to Mr. Stevenson is:
"Wade in the water...wade in the water, children.
Wade in the water...God's a gonna trouble the water.
Look over yonder and what do I see?...The Holy Ghost a comin on me."
Monday, March 1
By John Haselton, Current MDiv Student
THANKSGIVING OVER THE WATER
(Paragraph 3) The Lord be with you. And also with you. Let us pray.
Pour out your Holy Spirit, and by this gift of water call to our remembrance the grace declared to us in our baptism. For you have washed away our sins, and you clothe us with righteous- ness throughout our lives, that dying and rising with Christ we may share in his final victory.
All praise to you, eternal Father, through your Son Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and forever. Amen.
The Sacrament of Baptism can seem so straightforward on the surface. We bring the candidate to the front of the church, we say a few words, and sprinkle some water, and it can all be over so quickly with little time to meditate on the deeper meaning of the words, of the action of baptizing with water, and what this means for the one receiving baptism. And what exactly does it mean for the congregation? Fortunately, during this Lenten Season we have opportunity to give sustained attention to how we will live into our own baptisms.
The prayer over the water which we are considering for today's devotion is anything but mundane once we consider what the words really mean. First, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon the one who is receiving baptism; but reading closely, that same Holy Spirit is invoked to pour out on us, and call to mind our baptismal covenant as well. In order to fully participate in this sacrament we must be willing to receive the Spirit that was poured out on us at our baptism, and continues to be poured out upon us every day.
By this sacrament we have been cleansed of all of our sins and called to live into the newness of life promised in this act of baptism. The way this happens is as much a mystery as the presence of Christ at the Lord's Table, but it is just as real. The promise of baptism is that we will share in the righteousness of Christ, and share in Christ's ultimate and final victory. For the fulfillment of this promise we earnestly pray. Come, Holy Spirit, Come.
Amen.
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