The Water Tells Us Who We Are

I rarely discuss doctrinal issues in this space but all of the rain that we’ve had lately has gotten me to thinking about baptism.

There are a number of things common to all Christians regardless of the brand name on their church. (Even if a church calls itself non-denominational, non-denominational is its brand name.)

All churches have a belief in the sacredness of scripture. We might not interpret it the same but we all believe the Bible is the word of God. All churches observe what we in my denomination call Holy Communion. We may serve it differently, have different ideas about who participates and the liquid used may have a little more bite in some denominations but we all have Communion.

All churches also practice baptism, a rite of initiation in which one is either sprinkled with water, has water poured over them, or is immersed in water. Baptism along with Holy Communion is one of two acts of worship that Jesus commanded his followers to do. Jesus himself was baptized in order that God might demonstrate that in Jesus he became one of us.

All four gospels have accounts of Jesus’ baptism. None of the accounts are contradictory but all report the baptism from different perspectives. What we know is that in the Jewish faith of Jesus’ time there had been rituals of purification and initiation that involved water. Some form of baptism predated the time of Christ. How else would people have known to call John the Baptist, the one who baptized Jesus, John the Baptist if they had not known what he was doing?

The biblical accounts of Jesus’ baptism provide us with a framework to understand baptism today. Matthew, Mark, and Luke report that at the baptism of Jesus a voice from heaven said, “This is my son.” In baptism it was proclaimed to the world that Jesus was the Son of God. He was given his identity.

So it is that in baptism we are given our identity.

In our world there are a lot of ways that we can be given our identity. We can claim our identity in our family name. I recall a family that lived in the neighborhood in which I was raised by the name of Townsend. They were a little strange. I will not go into all their eccentricities but they had many of them. Every once in a while one could be heard discussing them and at some point in the conversation one would say, “Well they are just Townsends.” The name had given them their identities.

For others their identity can be found in their occupation. There are many people whether they are a doctor, lawyer, teacher, mechanic, brick layer, accountant, or cruise ship captain find their identity in what they do for a living. We must always remember that we are who we are and that we are not what we do.

Some times our identity is found through our associations. I recall during my time in Forsyth pushing my grocery cart through the store. My daughter, Angelia, was four at the time. While I made my way through the potato chip aisle I heard a little voice call out “Hey, Angelia’s Daddy.” I had an identity based on my association with someone else.

Baptism tells us something different. Baptism tells us that our identity is not defined by the blood of kinship, the manner in which we earn our living, or those with who we are associated. Baptism tells us that our identity is found in being a Child of God.

Whether we are baptized with water being sprinkled on our head or immersed in a pool, God is telling us that we are his children. He is saying that we are his beloved.

Of course, being a child of God is not without its expectations. When I teach baptism to the young people during a confirmation class, I usually have one of the young people put on the jacket to one of my suits. Needless to say, the jacket is too large for them.

I tell them that they would have to grow to be able to wear my jacket. I compare that to being baptized. In baptism, we are given expectations in regards to how are to live as a Child of God. However, we can’t do it all at once. We have to grow into our role.

This is what John Wesley, the founder of my Methodist tradition, called “Moving on to perfection.” Though we never quite become perfect, that’s where grace comes into play, we should always be moving, and growing into the person God wishes us to be.

It is said that Martin Luther when he was feeling low would mutter to himself, “I am baptized.” He would remind himself that his identity was found in being a child of God. I offer to we who are baptized that we should never forget to claim our identity. To those who aren’t baptized I say, come on in, the water’s fine.