Water sports

When the dog days of August hit (although, living in Syracuse right now, I can;t even imagine dog days....I am having trouble imagining days with the sun out and the ground dry!)..........there is nothing like running into the refreshing water of lake or beach or stream.  Shocked by the coolness of the water at first, we can feel the sweat being washed away and the heat exiting our body like commuters leaving the morning subway train.  Our cranky, overheated self is replaced by a refreshed and even giddy self as we find a burst of new life, new energy, new attitude. We are transformed.


A splash of water will do that.  When the pressure and heat of this world bear down on us, a splash of water will renew, refresh and re-enliven us.  Sort of like baptism, hmmmm.  Can this image help you to claim the transformation that God is bringing to our lives through that baptismal water?


In mid-January, when I wake to temperatures in the teens, and need to put on a coat, boots, mittens and possibly a hat just to navigate the 50 feet of driveway to retrieve my newspaper..........it is unimaginable to me that there will be a day, probably only 6 months ahead, where I will step out into searing heat, barefoot and in shorts and a tank top to do exactly the same job.

In the same way, on those days when the world is bearing down with relentless demands or crushing crises, it is unimaginable that there will be a day, probably not too far down the road, when I will be lifted up and experience the sweet nectar of life, the joy of being and the blessing of family, job and community.  On those days when I only feel failure, it is unimaginable that there will be a day when I will feel love, acceptance, forgiveness, grace and possibly even shalom.

Well, my friends, that is the Spirit - God's Spirit of Love which is, in fact, LIFE ITSELF, moving among us and within us, calling us into Jesus' presence, reminding us of God's love, renewing the gift of life within us, splashing us with the water of new birth, making us into God's holy people.

Furthermore, on the dog days, on the crushing and relentless days, on the failure days, it is the promise of that gift of Spirit and Life and Love that enable me to hold on.  It is the Spirit who 'calls, gathers, enlightens and sustains us.'  Thank you Lord.

How many times can you die?

This is not a rhetorical question.  How many times can you die?  Most of us get one.  One time to die. (Modern medicine has made some advances on this number, but nothing reliable.)

One time.  I've already had mine.  It happened about a month after I was born when my parents made the drive from Baltimore to Bath, PA to their home church for my baptism.  It was cold with snow on the day I died.  All my grandparents were there, along with an older brother and a couple of aunts and cousins.  I wore a white dress, the same one my brother wore.  My grandmother made it.

The pastor poured the water over my head and baptized me......into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I died with Christ so to live with Christ on that day when God's glory is made manifest to the whole world.  St. Paul says I died to sin by which he meant that sin could no longer claim me as one of its own.  Now I belonged to Christ and the Holy Spirit was about to really get to work in my life.

It was the starting point for my second life.  Buried deep within the heart of God, I was (and continue to be) slowly shaped by the love of a creator God who gave me my first breath, forgave (and continues to forgive) all the numbskull and even nasty things I've done and thought, showed me the face of my neighbor and pressed me forward to create a community with them.  From this generous God I was taught generosity and challenged again and again when my heart proved to be two sizes too small.

That's why my parents took me to that baptismal font....to die to the deadly life that awaited me and to be formed into the life of the Creator.  It was the life they experienced; they wanted it for me. It meant putting aside the kind of life that I would see around me.  It meant listening for Jesus' voice since the voices around me were deafening.  It meant pruning those places in me that hampered my growth into God's vision of a beloved child.

Now those of you who are reading this know that I am far from perfect; most days I'm far from medium.  But on all days I belong to Jesus and Jesus shapes and molds me into the new life of glory that awaits me. Along the way confession is my constant companion and forgiveness my salvation.

All sound a little radical to you?  A little 'over the top'?  A little like those crazy disciples tramping behind Jesus in all those stories?

It is.  It was meant to be.  Life as a disciple is more questions than answers.  It is constantly being aware of the great needs of our neighbors knowing that solutions we offer are temporary.  It is to expect that we will stumble regularly, and sometimes quite badly, and yet we call on the name of the Lord and wait and watch for his guidance.  We accept the weight of our own sin and bask in the wonder of God's gracious forgiveness.  We live the resurrection in each day - some days we are better at it than others.  We are Christ's and we live in him....

...and it is joy.

All of this is to say, there is nothing for you to fear.  You have already died.
You belong to Christ.

Today consider simply allowing Jesus to live in and through you.  Wait. Watch. Listen.
Quiet the voices that do not know Jesus and do not know the power of his love.
Begin to truly live  the life you were given long ago in those waters of baptism.  You...beloved child of God, disciple of the living Lord.

Resurrection, baptism and Monday morning

Monday morning.  Most maligned hours of the week.  Shut off the alarm, jump in the shower, grab some breakfast....begin the familiar routine of yet another work week, another foray into the world filled with challenges, disappointments, responsibilities and not as much peace as we would like.

After the different rhythms of even a busy weekend, Monday morning demands our attention, so it is not surprising that resurrection and baptism are not the most present things on our minds.  Resurrection and baptism are things that were checked off our To Do list long ago.  Right now we need peanut butter and jelly and gas for the car.

If I weren't writing this right at this moment I would be right behind you in line for use of the bathroom.  This world demands our attention and we pay a huge price if we lose focus and get caught day dreaming.  Living out our day as a baptized child of God feels like one more responsibility, not the great adventure that God intends for us.

It seems that life has managed to get more and more complex and the pressure to keep up or wash out just grows daily.  Any request to take on one more thing is considered suspiciously because at some point all our plates will stop spinning and china will crash to the floor.  We are perilously close to our limit - that place where our worth and ability run out and we are empty and useless. So baptismal covenants and resurrection life have found their place at the back of the closet; two more things that I don't have to think about right now.

Let's drag that baptismal water and empty tomb out from storage and re-consider.  Let's consider the power of the Holy Spirit - the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead into new and eternal life - the Spirit that anointed you in your baptism - the Spirit that works through you in this world to bring people and situations out of death and into new life.....THAT spirit.  Could you use a little of that today?

Let's consider that good news that you are beloved.  Today.  Right now...even though the laundry didn't get done this weekend and the dog is throwing up on the rug.  You are God's beloved and anything that might keep you separated from this God is off the table: forgiven and forgotten.  Even in the midst of one of your worst tantrums, when you are egregiously wrong, you are loved and Jesus walks beside you like your friend from elementary school.  Could you face a time today when that memory will hold you together and give you a glimpse of the holy?

Let's consider that God knows your name.  Sure, on the bus you are one face among 60 others; people you don't know.  Sure, HR knows you when they locate your file but even that won't matter if they need to lay off 15 people.  Sure, the soccer coach only knows you as that mother who runs in late and keeps murmuring about Sunday practices.  We are one of the great crowd of anonymous people to everyone out there but God.  God never forgets and is always available for a chat, a confession, a cry of fatigue.  Is it possible that today you will need to know that you are known by God?

The water of baptism is the beginning of resurrection life for us - real life, authentic life, life that gives life rather than continually subtracting it into nothingness.  The water of baptism calls us into a relationship that can mold and nurture us every moment of every day.  It is a new pair of glasses with which to see the world.  It is a new medicine that regulates our heart.  It is a pair of Italian leather loafers which cushion our walk through this lifetime.

So when you stand in the shower tomorrow morning, think baptism.  Your day will be changed because your life has been changed.  T
he baptismal waters are meant to disturb your life, your day, your dreams, your actions, your hopes, your plans. You go out into this world as a baptized child of God to live the life of resurrection and spread it around willy-nilly to absolutely everyone.

Here's a prayer to start your day:  Lord, disturb me this day.

I won't answer for you, but as for me, my day could use a little more disturbance by this God who loves me so dearly.

Disturbed by baptism

It is a courageous thing we do, baptizing our children.  Certainly all the drama is given over to the big wedding plans or possibly the selection of a college or maybe even that final act of our funeral, but none of these is quite as courageous as splashing water over the head of a powerless infant.

This is why.  Citizenship in this world is relinquished.  Even though that infant cannot take a step on their own in this world, the newly baptized steps into another realm.  With all the responsibilities that weigh heavy on parents' shoulders, they willingly take on yet another when they bring their infants to the font.  They make promises.  They are challenged to renew and refresh the promises of their own baptism.  They become this child's guide to Jesus, and life in the kingdom of God. They have set their child's feet upon the Jesus path; every day of this child's life will be a challenge to hold fast to the God who holds fast to them.

Too dramatic for you?  Or have we who watch and smile and congratulate the family simply gotten comfortable with this radical splashing of water?  Have we become deaf to the call of the Spirit?  Have we immunized ourselves against the realities of living out lives as baptized people of God?

Have we convinced ourselves that the water of baptism is our insurance for another time and not the starting point of living in this time and this place?  Have we turned baptism into another Hallmark moment and stripped it of its most powerful reality......that we are now joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus.....and that is never 'business as usual.'

Once upon a time a faithful servant of God poured water over your head in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and in disturbing the water simultaneously disturbed your life.  The very word life has shifted in meaning: it no longer means 'whatever you can eke out for yourself each day' but now means a connection with the Divine Creator, a shift from 'me' to 'we' and the ever present possibility of life being formed in the midst of death.  Our vision shifts from an image in our mirror to encompass the whole of humanity and parts of the world we will never glimpse with our own eyes.  Our theme song shifts from "I did it my way" to "I love to tell the story".

The water of baptism becomes our hearing aid, enabling us to hear the cries of the stranger caught in the grips of this world's forces, crushed by the weight of an
other's oppression.  The water of baptism is our physical therapy, keeping our joints well oiled as we step out into this world to bring light into dark corners and disturb evil in its work.

The water of baptism leads to a disturbed life:  now that we have tasted the wholeness of life that comes to us through and in Jesus, we are disturbed when life is diminished, locked up or out, refused or denied.  Then we are called to step into those places and disturb evil at its work.  We are baptizing warriors: warriors of life and not death, warriors who serve others rather than be served themselves.

Jesus asked the man by the pool of Bethsaida, "Do you want to be made well?" and just possibly he hesitated to answer because he wondered if he was ready .....ready to be a warrior for life and a bringer of light.

Are you ready?  As we open our eyes with each morning's light, let's allow this question to shape our day "Do you want to be made well?"  Jesus is ready .....are you?

Do you want to be made well?

It seems a straightforward enough question:  "Do you want to be made well?"

This anonymous man had been waiting by that pool at Bethsaida for 38 years, waiting for a healing.  The rumor around the pool was this:  every so often an angel stirred up the water of the usually quiet pool, and the first person into the water received healing.  Unfortunately, this man had no one to help him into the pool and, well, someone always got there ahead of him.  So, 38 years later, he was still waiting.

.....which would, to me, make his answer to Jesus' question all the more obvious.  "Do you want to be made well?"  Of course!  Finally!  Thank God!  Yes, please!  Any of these would do.

Yet that's not what we get.  All of this set me to wondering why he would hesitate to embrace the opportunity, even if it turned out to prove false.  Why wouldn't he want to be healed?

First, he would have to go home.  The pool was a place for healing, not hanging out with some friends.  His place there would disappear.  In fact, the only place that had been home for him for 38 years would no longer be his.  That might cause a person to pause.

Second, we have no idea if he had a home to return to.  If he had truly had no one to help him into the water for 38 years, perhaps he had no family at all waiting for his return.  Perhaps they had forgotten him long ago, wrote him off as a burden.

Furthermore, would they even recognize him?  Up until this moment his identity was as the paralyzed man who lived next to the pool at Bethsaida.  If he picks up his mat and goes home, well, he could easily just blend into the crowd, no one special, identity gone.  And now that begging would no longer be an option for him, he would have to get a job.  Like being a farm hand.  Labor.  Hard labor.  After 38 years of nothing.

Perhaps it isn't so difficult to imagine his hesitancy.

Our Maundy Thursday confession includes this same idea when we say  "I ask for healing, Lord, but in the end, I prefer my sin to your healing."  Or, to state it another way, 'rather the often uncomfortable life I have to the unknown comforts of a new and unfamiliar life.'...like the life we are called in to in baptism, where the water is disturbed by the Holy Spirit, wholeness is ours as a gift from God, and our lives are forever disturbed.

Healing would disturb this man's life.  All the years he waited and watched for the water of the pool to be disturbed so he could chase after healing. Now that healing was simply offered to  him perhaps he had time to consider how much it would disturb his life.

I wonder if we are stuck in an old, paralyzed life, afraid to truly grab hold of a life of wholeness offered by God in Jesus.

Somewhere...

What  was it  like to be gathered with folk  who risked their lives  in order to be baptized?  People who knew that the life being offered by Jesus was  far more valuable than the one they now knew?  People who hungered and thirsted after a relationship with God? And who weren't  interested in 'guilt' but in joy?

What would it take to gather folks who wanted to push the boundaries of their spiritual life? To go deeper? To ask the hard questions?  To put their time and money  and talents (whatever  that might be) towards serving the neighbor? To be willing to give up what they think they believe in order to discover God more fully?

What would  it be like to belong  to a group where you knew there would always be a space for  you at the table no  matter how big a jackass you (regularly) tended to make of yourself?

What would it be  like to know forgiveness....from your neighbor?

Does this describe  a community you  know?  Does it describe a community you  want to build?

Jesus calls  us into just such a community.  Jesus calls us to be just  such a community. Let's  talk.

A cosmic do - over

Parents look at their newborn child and see a lawyer, a ballerina, a rocket scientist, a major league baseball player.  Even as they are changing the diapers, parents see the potential and possibilities just waiting to emerge.

Baptism is our second 'coming out' experience.  We go into the water broken and out of sync with ourselves and our neighbors.  We come out of the water knowing that we are beloved of God.  God looks at us and sees all that we can be, and then 'spirits' us into that future.

It is a cosmic do-over that we spend our lifetime living into.  And thanking God in Jesus for this opportunity to be 'all that we can be.'

You are my beloved

Sunday we will "remember our baptisms;" this should be a good and pleasant thing to do.

But why do it?

Why remember a moment that most of us slept through when we were splashed with water and claimed to be a child of God?

Why remember that once our name was presented to God and we were called one of God's 'beloved' ones?

Why remember that moment when water and a Word of grace, forgiveness and hope combined to put to death our old selves and join us to Christ's kingdom?

Why remember the parents who brought us, the fellowship of believers that welcomed us and the pastor who prayed for us?  Because the rest of life in this world is too often without praise, without forgiveness, without mercy.

Too often someone attempts to convince us that we have little or no worth in the big scheme of things.
 Too often darkness appears to swallow all the light in our world.

That's exactly when we turn to that moment when God claimed us, called us beloved, joined us to the resurrected one and before all the world called us worthy.  Some days, our baptism is the only thing we have left to which to cling. 

Come celebrate your baptism with us this Sunday, beloved of God.

What's the Spirit got to do with it?

If the Spirit is actively guiding your life, perhaps you shouldn't mention it.....at least not around staid, stoic Lutherans.

Lutherans have historically had a limited relationship with the Holy Spirit.   Well, that's not completely true.  We recognize and acknowledge the work of the Spirit as recorded in the scriptures.  We just don't talk about the Spirit's power or movement in our day to day lives, or in our worship, or in our prayer.  I think we don't really know what to do or say about the Spirit, so we don't say anything.

The Holy Spirit is the power of God moving and acting in this world (and possibly in other worlds as well but that's not the point).  Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit - ergo the Spirit gives life, even new life.  Elijah was directed to return to his calling as a prophet (out there in the cave, you know, the 'still small voice') so the Spirit can direct our work and our days.  The Spirit moved among the worshippers on the day of Pentecost and everyone spoke boldly, openly and everyone else understood them.....so the Spirit gives us boldness to speak and openness to hear.

The Spirit is more that a 'feeling' but I expect most of us first experience the Spirit's moving through an inner sense that we would call a feeling.  Sometimes the Spirit guides us by giving us clarity - about a decision to be made or a person who needs to be visited.  Sometimes the Spirit calls us into a situation quite unbeknownest to us so we can witness the Spirit at work and be inspired to new work on God's behalf.

In our baptism, we are anointed with the Holy Spirit.  At confirmation, our young people once again call on the Spirit to guide their feet and build their faith.  At ordination, the Spirit is invoked (we call on its name) to bless and guide the new pastor. 

Perhaps we are afraid of the Spirit's power?  I don't know; being raised from the dead is a pretty exciting possibility.  How about we increase our quotient of Spirit talk and expectation?  What could that bring in 2013?

Splashing in the water

We'll be splashing in the water this week as we approach Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus. 
Starting at Luke3.15, the people were "filled with expectation" - not about their baptism, nor even about Jesus, but about John - the Baptizer.  They are trying to figure out exactly who John is.

"Filled with expectation" would describe most parents who bring their children to the font for baptism.  Many are 'filled with expectation' about the child's life, future, possible accomplishments, even how positively all that would reflect on them.  Most have a vague understanding of the importance or benefit of baptism for their child or themselves; they have few expectations around baptism.

I get it.  We are looking for a moment of decision; a transformation in the person; a radically different tomorrow.  We are looking for action, and baptism looks amazingly passive to us.  Since Lutherans baptize infants, we don't get any of those things.  Instead, we get God at work through the water and the Word to anoint us with the Spirit and enfold us into the community.

In fact, most of us believe that infants are simply too innocent to be in need of 're-creation'.  For it is re-creation which is taking place - a new birth into a life found in Jesus Christ.  Away with the old - the life warped by our own sin and the nastiness of others.  In with a life defined by Christ: where each of us is seen with eyes of unconditional love and shaped by that love to live life for the sake of the other. 

So if that is what we believe is happening, we can easily figure out that our baptism is lived out over the course of our lifetime.  Baptism is the starting point of a journey of faith which grows and curves and morphs throughout our years.  Whatever this life throws at us, we can claim that moment when we and Christ were joined.  Whatever may happen, we, like Luther, can claim solace and strength in the words  "I am a baptized child of God."

BTW, the big decision at the font is the decision made by the parents - that this is where life for their child can be found - and they are committed to supporting that journey by teaching and example throughout their child's life.  Those promises made at the font join us all together in the adventure of growing more like Christ, teaching others about Jesus, praying for one another regularly, and sharing our blessings with others.  Anytime we get lost in our faith, look again at the baptismal promises, and then go and do exactly what you promised.  God will find you once again.

Ahhh, the Ethiopian eunuch, or being the odd man out

Acts 8.26-40 is the story of the "Ethiopian Eunuch" -

Let's address the Ethiopian portion of this: when Jeremiah and portions of the nation of Israel fled to Egypt in about 600 BC, an Israelite community developed on the coast of Africa and many remained.  There continues to be a Jewish presence in both Egypt and Ethiopia.  (how much I'm not sure; google it if you're interested).  Although lots of nations are mentioned at the Pentecost gathering (Acts2.9-11) no Ethiopians are named; so as an Ethiopian he represents those who are geographically and ethnically far away. 
This 'man' had been to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home.  He was reading the prophet Isaiah and was unsure whether the prophet was speaking of himself "like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, like a lamb silent before its shearer" or if Isaiah spoke of someone else.  Philip had the honor of introducing this man to Jesus, and once again witnessed to him about the gift of Jesus the Son of God.  The Ethiopian wanted to be baptized immediately, and so it was accomplished.

Why the big deal about this man being a eunuch?  Couldn't the whole story be told without mentioning this detail?  And what is a eunuch anyway?  (Frankly, if you want the details, google it.)

 A eunuch was a man who in his youth was rendered impotent in order to eliminate any possibility that he would 'stray' into forbidden territory.  You can see why the male who was in charge of the harem would be a eunuch and often court officials with access to money were as well.  Being a eunuch pretty much eliminated other career possibilities for the man.  It set him aside socially as well.  The eunuch was always 'the odd man out.'   Religiously, eunuchs were excluded from participation in Temple rituals and from full admittance, as proselytes, into Israel's community.

So the one that was rejected by the social order (although made that way in order to serve society's purposes) is the one who receives a special, personal word of enlightenment, a witness to Jesus and the acceptance of baptism.  The one who was seeking a higher meaning for his life was given the ultimate gift of being included. 

Lots to think about here ......