sermon - Baptism

            Our lives are marked with transitions.  It is graduation season, we mark the end of set period of time and requirements of study and honor the students with a ceremony of completion.  In a few weeks, my little Daisy troop will be bridging, moving from Daisies to Brownies.  Next Sunday, our youth will be confirmed, we will celebrate a time of study and transition our youth into adult members of the church.  Transitions are all around us:  from being able to vote for the first time and getting a driver’s license, to weddings and births, to retirement.  And most of the time, we mark these transitions with some sort of ceremony, certificate, or party. 

            Rituals, ceremony, help guide us through times of transition, people of all cultures participate in various rites of passage, often with those transitioning being marked in a specific way, such as a bride wearing a white dress, or a graduate wearing a gown. 

            Our Sunday worship reflects this as well.  We mark our sacred time together with the ringing of the church bell, we set aside this space as sacred space, and we, in a sense, exit the secular world in which we live, and enter into sacred time and space before being sent back out into the world.  We transition weekly, reminding ourselves of the sacred, of the need to be in intentional connection with our beloved creator, of connecting to the sacred story and sharing with one another in prayer. 

            It is this very topic of sacred transitions that we find in our story from the Gospel of John today.  There is a very well educated man, Nicodemus, that has heard about Jesus and heard about his teachings.  Nicodemus wants to know more, he has questions that he wants answered, but he seems somewhat concerned about being seen, about being associated with Jesus,.  For you see, he was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, the very people that were resisting Jesus and his teachings.  But he knew there was something more happening here, he knew Jesus was from God, but he takes a great risk to his own reputation and leadership to be seen with Jesus.  so the text tells us, that he comes to Jesus in the night. 

            In the Gospel of John, light and dark are symbolic themes throughout.  In the night, in the dark, can be interpreted symbolically as not yet fully knowing, not yet exposed to God’s light, not yet fully aware of the divine presence.  So, it is possible Nicodemus sneaks out in the night so no one will see him speaking with Jesus or it could be a metaphor for where he is spiritually, but either way, he wants to learn more. 

            And Jesus, in his own way, speaks symbolically of what it means to be in relationship of God.  He speaks of being born again, or being born from above.  The only way to see the kingdom of God, is to be born from above.  And Nicodemus seems to take this very literally and asks how can one be born a second time?  And Jesus responds proclaiming that one must be born of water and spirit to enter the Kingdom of God.  He then elaborates explaining the difference of being born of the flesh and being born of the spirit.  As people, as living creatures here on earth, we are all born of the flesh from our mothers.  But we all have the ability to also be born of the Spirit.  We transition into this world through birth, but we also transition as spiritual beings through water and the Spirit. 

            We, as Presbyterians, mark this transition, this celebration, this gift from God of being born of water and Spirit in baptism.  We have had several baptisms over the past few months and we will have another next month, and these children are all being marked by water blessed by the Holy Spirit and the parents, Godparents, and members of the church promise to raise the child in the faith.  Are these children born again?  Well, that term born again is a loaded expression depending on your faith tradition.  As Presbyterians, we believe that baptism is a transition, a transition of promised love, nurture, and care.  In this sacred time and sacred place, sacred vows are expressed that we desire a life of faith and discipleship for this child.  So, is this child born from above?  Absolutely, and throughout her life, seeds of faith will sprout and bear fruit and she may find a moment where she truly understands God’s love for her in her life.  We often talk about our faith journeys as on-going conversion experiences.  On-going moments of feeling seeds sprout and grow, on-going moments of being touched by God’s grace and love, on-going moments of the water and Spirit breaking into our lives connecting us to the Kingdom of God. 

            Although we believe in one baptism, that one baptism is sufficient for our entire lives, we also believe that the promised water of nurture is on-going.  So we may have moments when our baptism becomes real to us, where it becomes relevant or alive.  We hope that for our children that will be confirmed next week.  That the vows of baptism taken on their behalf twelve or so years ago are now alive in their own hearts, in their own faith journey, in their own understanding of who God is to them.  And so we mark this experience again, not as a second baptism, but as the time in which their baptism makes sense to them, where they can now take the vows of church membership on their own behalf.  It is the same transition and yet another transition, being born of the water and the spirit, it is on-going, ever calling us to grow in our faith no matter how old or young we are. 

            Rites of passage call us to be transformed, to live differently, to grow into a new phase of life.  Nicodemus cannot stay the same if he listens and deeply understands what Jesus is telling him.   Just like when you get your driver’s license, you get it to want to use it.  Along with a changed life of greater independence also comes great responsibility.  I didn’t get my driver’s license to have it sit on a shelf and admire what I had accomplished.  I got it, to use it. 

            Nicodemus is given a purpose behind what it means to be born of the water and spirit.  By being born from above we are given the ability to see the Kingdom of God.  We are marked by the water and the Spirit by God as a means to grow in our lives, we are called to use our baptisms, not just mark it as a specific day in our lives, but to see the Kingdom of God.  We are marked by the water and the Spirit, we are born from above, as an on-going gift from God, empowering us to be disciples, participants in God’s Kingdom, not just in the next life, but here, in this particular place in this particular time.  Let us this day, all remember our own baptisms, marked by the water and the Spirit, growing into God’s people, transforming the world around us through God’s amazing love.  Amen.