Currently we have suspended in-person worship. Instead we invite you to join us for our live streamed worship on YouTube
The Scripture Readings this Sunday are:
- Acts 19:1-7
- Mark 1:4-11
The Sermon title is By Water and the Spirit
Early Thoughts: John came to the Jordan and baptized. John's baptism is described as "baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" and it appears that John is wildly popular. But John knows that someone else is coming...
In this passage from Acts we see some of the growth in understanding within the Early Christian Community. Some (it is plausible that the earlier teacher in this case was Apollos) have been teaching a different version of the faith than Paul and others have been. Apollos, it seems, may have known much about Jesus but his understanding of Baptism was limited to John's baptism for repentance, a Baptism of water but not of the Spirit.
Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is a good thing. The idea of repenting, of changing direction to go a new way is crucial to being a follower of Christ. The reminder of being forgiven (one old image is that the act of Baptism washes away those sins) is crucial to our ability to change direction. But, our faith story suggests, it is not enough. The water is an important symbol. The being washed over by and filled with the Holy Spirit is what transforms us.
That is what God invites us to in our baptism. We are named as God's beloved children. We are called and invited to join in the quest for the Reign of God. We are commissioned and empowered to be agents of God's Reign. Water by itself can't do all those things.
A large part of why we Protestants consider Baptism to be a sacrament is because Jesus was baptized and because the Risen Christ (at the end of Matthew's Gospel) command us to go out and Baptize. But for me Baptism is sacramental because something special and mysterious happens. Officiating at Baptisms is one of my favorite tasks in ministry. Something happens that makes me feel God's presence in a different way as I hold that child and put the water on the head and say the words. As I bless the child with words like "the power of the Holy Spirit work within you, that being born of water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ" there is a holy space created. Baptism matters.
We are called to be a baptized and baptizing church. We are called to share the water and the Spirit for the growing of God's Reign. Baptism in water and the Spirit is not [just] about repentance for the forgiveness of sins, it is about being transformed. The power of Baptism is in that transformation, a transformation that grows and develops throughout our life of faith.
God calls/invites/challenges us to be transformed by the washing over of the Holy Spirit. Will we accept?
--Gord
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