Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Today, in the life of the church, it is the first Sunday in the Season of Epiphany.  On this very same Sunday each year, we remember the baptism of our Lord Jesus as we just heard read in the Gospel Lesson from Matthew.  It follows logically then that today is one of the Sunday’s designated in our prayer book to do baptisms.  Now having few new Christians and fewer babies in our community (which is probably a good thing considering we are mainly undergrads), we will not have a baptism tonight, but I still want to take the opportunity to talk about the meaning and purpose of the sacrament of baptism.   

Now, as I am sure you know, the primary symbol of baptism is water and in the ancient world, water symbolized death and chaos.  When the earth was a formless void, Genesis says that the Spirit of God moved over the chaotic waters to bring order to the universe, to create the earth, and eventually out of the primordial elements to create life.  So again water is an ancient archetype for disorder and even death.  With that in mind perhaps some of you know that the central body of a church building, where you are sitting right now, is called a nave.  The word nave is derived from the same Greek word from which we have the word navel—like a navel vessel—a ship that carries people and products across bodies of water.  Without the assistance of sea-faring navel vessels, we could never cross an ocean or for that matter a body of water of any significant size.  It goes with out saying that if we tried to cross an ocean under our own power our attempt would be futile and possibly deadly.  Life is much the same.  We all need something to bear us through the uncharted waters that we call life. 

As I said, tonight you sit in the nave of a church.  If you look up you will see that the term nave is most fitting.  A church is intentionally shaped like an upside down boat.  The church or more accurately the one whom we come here tonight to encounter, the living God, is the means, is the vessel, by which we are brought through the great voyage of life.  And, make no mistake, the living God we come here to worship is a strong ship, and though we will undoubtedly encounter storms along the way that will batter and bruise us our ship will not fail, it will hold together and faithfully deliver us to the promise land—life forever with God.  Now let me take this back to baptism.  Through the sacrament of baptism, we get on board that ship.  We become part of the household of God.  We enter into a life-giving relationship with God in Christ that will sustain us through the storms of life and deliver us to the promise land—life forever with God.

So, baptism is a beginning.  It is an entrance rite of sorts.  It’s your ticket to get on board God’s boat and begin to travel in the direction that God leads.  Now I must say here, God’s boat is not always the Royal Caribbean and that voyage is not always like a relaxing cruise to exotic locations in the Bahamas.  Sometimes we have to row and it’s exhausting, and sometimes we even have to save people floating in the water who are shipwrecked themselves.  In other words, baptism is a call to living a life of action…it is a call to do ministry…it is call to love boldly not only with our words but with our deeds. 
In just a moment, we will renew our own baptismal vows just as we would if we did have a baptism scheduled tonight.  Following three statements of faith by which we declare that God is creator, redeemer, and sanctifier, you will be asked five important questions, which collectively paint a rich, vibrant picture of what life as a baptized person looks like?  (If you would open your prayer books to page 304)  The first question reads, “Will you continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?”  So what does it mean to be on board God’s boat?  Well it means that the central act of our lives as a community is to gather together weekly, like we are now, to reflect upon God’s living word, the bible, as it is read and proclaimed in church.  Additionally, we gather together weekly to share a family meal.  We call it Communion, or Eucharist, or Mass, or the Lord’s Supper.  Whatever language you prefer the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is the sacrament of unity.  We all come forward to share one loaf and one cup because we are one body in Christ.  As Christians, we are first and foremost a worshipping community.

The second question reads, “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?”  In other words, as baptized persons, we are not called to live semi-monastic, perfect, pious, ascetic, painfully boring lives.  We are a church made up of broken people.  It is okay to be Christians and make mistakes.  However, we are called to speak out against evil in this world, and when we succumb to it ourselves (and we all will), we are to ask the Lord and those we have hurt for forgiveness.  Then we are to strive not to fall prey to that mistake a second time.

The third question is, “Will you claim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?”  Now this question is asking us to invite others to join us on God’s boat and sometimes even to reach out boldly to those who are floating helplessly on the seas of life.  You see we have been given a message that is so very good—that God loves each of us…that he wants to have a relationship with us…that he wants to offer us life that is abundant and everlasting.  Why would we covet such a message?  It is a gift and the whole purpose of a gift is for it to be shared with someone other than yourself.  As St. Francis once said, “Preach the Good News always, and, if necessary, use words!”

Now to the fourth question which reads, “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”  This means, at least in part, that as baptized persons, we are called to serve and be in fellowship with all people despite the categories we use to build walls between us—despite ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religious belief.  By virtue of creation, every woman and every man is made in God’s image.  Therefore, as a church, we are to be radically welcoming, being hospitable to the stranger, and reaching out to those in need.  We are to remember always, that our Lord Jesus said it is when we reach out in love to the hungry, to the thirsty, to the stranger, to the naked, to the sick, to the imprisoned, that we meet Him face to face.  My experience is that when I authentically reach out to those in need I am always enriched by the experience.

The fifth and final question asks, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”  As we are traveling along in God’s boat, we are also to be political activists.  However, our agenda is not shaped by blind patriotism or any other political ideology.  We are to be participants in the building of God’s kingdom here on earth.  We are to use the social and political means available to us to make our world more just.  We are to be agents of reconciliation and peacemakers.  We are to demonstrate in our politics the same self-giving love Jesus demonstrated on the cross.  We are to speak for those who have no voice—the poor, the exploited, and the disenfranchised.  The book of Revelation gives us a powerful image of God’s kingdom.  The author, John, writes, “After this I looked up and there was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…they are before the throne of God and worship him day and night…and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.  They will hunger no more, and thirst no more…for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be there shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  A world with no tears…imagine it…this is the world we are to work to create with all means we have.      

Through the sacrament of Baptism, we are called to worship together in word and sacrament; we are to resist evil; we are to share the Good News; we are to be servants to one another; we are to be political activists seeking justice in this world.

A final thought, sometimes it seems that we fail at a task that we have been given on board God’s boat, and worse, at times, it seems we even fall completely overboard.  Here me.  Baptism is forever.  Your place on the boat can never be taken from you…so try again…climb back on board.  This is a voyage you don’t want to miss.  Amen.

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