Today’s sermon will probably be a bit shorter than usual. Now don’t get too excited. That’s not my New Year’s resolution and it probably won’t happen next week. This week, however, I want to speak less and let the renewal of our baptismal vows speak more. It is the heart of this sermon. I don’t want you to just hear the sermon. I want you to experience it in a tangible and physical way. I want you to feel the sermon sprinkle your life, your body, the world with good news.  

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. So I’m going to use today’s gospel (Mark 1:4-11) as a lens through which to see and understand our baptism. 

Several years ago we baptized a baby here at St. Philip’s. I no longer remember who it was or whether it was a little girl or a little boy. I do know that we held that little one as a beautiful and sacred child of God. I know that we offered her or him our love and our best wishes and prayers. I know that we entrusted that child and ourselves to the waters of God’s love. And I know we left here that day with our lives changed, deepened, and enlarged. 

A couple days after the baptism someone asked me why we would baptize a baby. She was a bit skeptic and defensive but she had her reasons. The baby couldn’t understand baptism, what it means, or what we did. The baby didn’t repent, profess faith, or make a choice. In short, the baby didn’t do anything but show up.

But here’s what I wonder.

• What if baptism is more about God’s understanding of us than ours of God?
• What if baptism is more about God’s faith in us than ours in God?
• What if baptism is more about God’s choice of us than ours of God?

I think that’s what we see in today’s gospel. Jesus comes from Nazareth to be baptized by John in the Jordan River. “And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

So let me ask you this: What makes Jesus “the Beloved” and why is God “well pleased” with him?

Up to this point Jesus hasn’t done a thing. This is his first appearance in Mark’s account of the gospel. He hasn’t survived the wilderness and its temptations. He hasn’t healed anyone, fed the multitudes, calmed a storm, or raised anyone from the dead. He hasn’t preached or taught. He hasn’t spoken a word.

So what did Jesus do? Nothing. He just showed up to be baptized. And God spoke truth. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

That’s the baptism into which you and I were and are baptized. Those are the waters to which we return again and again. We return to remember and reclaim once again the baptismal truth about us: “You are my Daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

After the woman finished explaining to me her concerns about baptizing a baby I asked, “When your grandchild was born did you kiss him?” “Yes, of course,” she said “Did you tell him that you loved him?” She said, “Yes.” “Did you tell him how beautiful and precious he is?” Again, she said, “Yes.” “Had he done anything to cause you to say and do those things?” “No.” “Did he understand what any of that meant or why you did it?” “No,” she said.  

I told her that I think that’s how it is with God and baptism. Who and what we are before God are givens. (Lane, The Great Conversation, 129) They are not something to be acquired, accomplished, or proved. 

Baptism is God’s kiss on our life. It’s God’s declaration and reminder that we already are beloved children of God. It’s not meant to change God’s mind about us. It’s meant to change our minds about ourselves and one another. And that just might be the start of changing our lives and our world. 

I wonder how different our lives and world might be if we saw and treated ourselves and one another as beloved children of God, sealed with a kiss.

In a few moments we will renew our baptismal vows and you will be sprinkled with holy water, baptismal water. Each drop of water is a kiss of God. 

I hope you will shower in drops of love, human dignity, presence, forgiveness, compassion, healing, peace, justice, hope. Drink it all in. Don’t leave here thirsty.

Feel each drop of water as it lands on your life, your body, the world. Feel the coolness. Let it awaken and refresh you. Please, don’t rub it off. Let it soak in. What does it touch in you? What does it bring up in you? What is it offering you? What in you needs watering today?

Today, with the renewal of our baptismal vows we are reclaiming the kiss of God. 

Reclaim the kiss of God in your life and go share it with another. 

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Image Credit: “Baptism” by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (cropped)