If you were baptized as an infant or small child, you may not remember the actual event of your baptism. But perhaps you remember your confirmation, the opportunity you were given to affirm the promises made on your behalf by your parents. Others of you grew up in traditions where you were baptized later in childhood or even as adults. And still others may not yet have been baptized.
What we all have in common is that God is at work in our lives.
The author of Hebrews reminds us that we have a God who sees our weaknesses and the ways we are tested, and still invites us to come and ask for the mercy and help that God is so ready to give us.[i]
Martin Luther once wrote”
This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished by it is actively going on. This is not the goal but the right road. At present everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleaned.
“Everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleaned.”
Paul, imprisoned in Rome, certainly knew what the underbelly of life looked like. In Acts we’re told he “breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” (Acts 9:1 NRS) Once a zealot who violently persecuted followers of Jesus, he converted and became an evangelist to the Gentiles, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ for the sake of the whole world.
When in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul urges Christians to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” he is recognizing the “already but not yet” quality of a life of discipleship.
We see this again and again in Scripture.
Rahab, a prostitute in the Canaanite city of Jericho, hides the spies who had been sent to the city by Joshua. (Joshua 2) When the king of Jericho demands that she turn the spies over to him, she denies knowing where they are and helps them escape, telling them, “The LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below.” (Joshua 2:11 NRS) Rahab is one of only four women listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. (Matthew 1)
David, a shepherd and the
youngest of his brothers, defeats Goliath and becomes king of Israel. But he is
far from perfect. He rapes Bathsheba and then kills her husband Uriah so that
his actions won’t be discovered. He has to flea Jerusalem when his own son
Absalom tries to overthrow him. And yet, it’s in the psalms attributed to David
that we hear the consoling words of Psalm 86:
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. (Ps. 86:5 NRS)
Peter, a Galilean fisherman, is the model disciple who never quite does the right thing. He rushes to rebuke Jesus when Jesus tells the disciples about the suffering he will undergo. (Mark 8:32) Later he asks Jesus if they can stay on the mountaintop with Elijah and Moses during the transfiguration. (Mark 9:5) And then, he insists he will not deny Jesus but does so, three times. (Mark 14:54) And yet, Peter is also the one who is called the rock upon whom the Church is built. (Matt. 16:18)
When we remember our baptism, we remember that God creates us and knows all of our imperfections, temptations and brokenness. And in God’s steadfast love, God forgives us again and again, so that our sin does not separate us from God.
In the sacrament of Holy Baptism, the ordinary element of water is joined with God’s command[ii] and the promise that “You are a child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” [iii]
Baptism is not the goal, but the beginning of a life of faith where we are nourished along the way by God’s love and God’s word.
Right now, because of COVID, we do not have water in our font, but the font is not the only place where we find water to remember our baptism. I encourage you this week to remember your baptism each time you wash your hands, get caught in the rain, or splash in a puddle. And as you remember your baptism, remember too Luther’s own words that “Everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleaned.”
Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for making us your
children.
Help us remember we are yours,
remembering our baptism and striving to live a life worthy of you.
Thank you for your forgiveness
when we make mistakes or fall short.
By your Spirit strengthen us in
times of suffering and temptation and encourage us to take the help and mercy
you offer.
We pray in the name of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[i] Eugene Peterson, The Message.
[ii] Matthew 28:19 NRS
[iii] Small Catechism, 79.
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