Baptism of Our Lord

What is Baptism?
She was surprised at first. Almost next expecting what she had been expecting for months when it happened. Water broke! Time to go! Oh my God! grab the bags, wake him up, call someone. Call everyone. Check the...ouch, never mind. Get in the car. And it hits her, like that. As she dries off wet legs (yuck). She was born for this...to be a mom. It was a God-given gift and her calling in life and in less than 24 hours she wuold be living it for the rest of her life. And then another contraction hits.
It surpristed him at first, those words from the doctor. Cold words in the dim hallway outside the busy intensive care unit in the too familiar hospital. "Less than 24 hours now". With her. Afte r59 years in the same house, the same bed. And now it was coming to an end or changing. The first tear rolled down his cheek. It was cold. And then hey came out like an uncontrollable flood---weeping, sadness, pain in the gut, in the heart. And he sat on the floor clutching his 80 year old knees. He wasn't thinking any particular thought. Just her. Flashes of a life. Their wedding day, that trip to California, their first new Buick, the kids, the house, the grandkids, the cancer she beat, her smile, her voice, her hands. And the tears fell. He would live without her for the rest of his life.
It was no surprise and she shouted and laughed and jumped and kicked the couch and grabbed the dog and threw her wet coat on the kitchen floor. The rain had made the envelope damp and her hair dripped from the four minutes she stood holding it at the mailbox with the butterflies dancing in her stomach. Open it. Read it. YES! I'm in! Accepted. Med. School. In 2 months. As water droplets stained the letter that told her future, she sat on the floor and remembered her daddy said, "You can be whatever you want to be, baby, because we love you." She was 9 then. 15 years later , she was on her way to becoming a doctor. Call dad. Now. On this rainy summer night fter a long shift in the restaurant, she is wet and happy and ready to start the one thing she has always wanted to be---a healer of sick people.
As the sun emerged behind gray clouds, he sat alone on the one dry bench under the canopy of green and watched the cars splash through the flooded streets spraying water to his shoeless feet. Will he eat today? Sleep inside? See a friend? Wlll he survive? A storm had passsed but the one he livs in keeps raging in his head. Are the clouds ever going away? How did he let them gather over him, consume him, wash his life away? How did this happen? His disease, job loss, wife leaving, foreclosure. No job, no money, no car. Nothing. No one. Just himself. His better days now were either drunk or in jail. He walks, then. Crosses against the light, bare feet wading through four inches of runoff. he;d sat on the steps of that building before. Never daring to go up, open the door, go in. See. But somethign aboutt he sun peeking under the clouds said, "its time." As he took the first step up, the door opened. A young man sees him and smilies. They are both surprised for a few seconds. And then he says, "Hi I've seen you here before. Is your name Tom? I'm Peter. Come on in. Coffee's hot. Join us. Supper is in 20 minutes, if you like. Welcome to St. Paul's."
Baptism--it happens once and it happens over and over and over again. Moments when God comes ot us, calls to us, inspires us to our next best selves. Rescues us from our worst selves.
Baptism is not fire insurance or a guarantee. It is divine adoption and life vocation rolled into one. I was adopted at the age of two at Our Saviour Lutheran in Rockford, Illinois. And God has called me to this life ever since, the life of the Son, the life of Jesus. The one who teaches us how to live washed and wet and willing to be who God wants Him, needs Him, loves Him to be. Who does God love you to be? What does God love you to do? What makes God say, "This is my boy, this is my girl. I love you so much. Your life pleases me." Jesus' baptism is a sign of his identity and an anointing into a vocation. His life is an authorized mission from God to the world, a single man devoted to live the perfect life, die a humble and sacrificial death,and rise as a sign of the timeless, transcendent, eternal,power of God with us.
My you be drenched in the love of God. May you soak up God's grace and compassion. May you pour it out in holy, gracious, sarificial living and giving. You are baptized.Like him. You are children. Born for God's love and born for God's world. May love be our gift,Jesus our way, and baptism our delight. Amen. ---Sermon for Baptism of Our Lord, 2009