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Water and the Holy Spirit

January 12, 2025 - Rev. Dr. Jan Remer-Osborn

Water and the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 29, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. - Ephesians 2:4-5 (We love because he first loved us. - 1 John 4:19)

Baptism first was conducted out in the wilderness by someone who was not a priest or pharisee, or an ordained minister.  A man dress in wild clothes, John, who answered a calling. We learn two important things  in Luke’s story.  First, it is about who Jesus is, his identity. God’s voice is heard.  “You are my Son, the beloved; Second, with you I am well pleased.”   Our baptism tells us that we, too, are God’s beloved children.  Always, no matter what, unconditionally.

You know, God needed no rules, no ecclesial documents or certificates, no constitutions or bylaws to perform this baptism. There was only the claiming of Jesus as his son, the proclamation that Jesus was loved, and that God, his father, was pleased with him.  We follow Jesus who was baptized with water in a river.

Now, Jesus had no sins to repent from, did he? He was showing his solidarity with we humans, and preparing himself to carry out his life’s purpose, God’s mission for him.  After his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in bodily form like a dove!   A dove.  Where have we heard about doves before?  Let me warn you in advance that answers to this question took me meandering to places I did not expect. A little teaching here.  In Genesis 8:11 we read,

11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, [after several trips] there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

The dove is the most common symbol of the Holy Spirit. And there was lots of water in the flood, like the Jordan River.  Both the New Testament and St. Augustine speaks to the connection and symbolism between baptism and the flood.  Listen to this from 1 Peter 3:18-21

18 For Christ… was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. … he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also….b] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Bishop N.T. Wright, an Anglican priest and world renown scholar, suggests a few other ways we can recognize the key role of water. In Genesis we see the primal waters being parted as God creates the world.  The Israelites gain freedom from slavery by going through the parted waters of the Red Sea. And then we see John bringing people to a new life at the Jordan River. Through the waters to life, to new life.  This water unites Jesus with us.  Wright also states that, “In baptism, we go through the water and enter into God’s new covenant. God has promised that he would do a new thing—and this is how he’s doing it.”

The key points about baptism are these.  The water is a physical manifestation and recollection of baptism in the Jordan River that brings believers into the Christian community.  What is amazing, holy, and lifechanging is that the Holy Spirit descended then and does so now.  And, that Jesus and you and me are baptized by the same Spirit of God.

Baptism, since it is God’s work, is infallible.  Our relationship with God, is the one relationship in life we can’t screw up precisely because God made this relationship.  We can neglect it, we can deny it, run away from it, ignore it, but we cannot destroy it.  God loves us too deeply and completely to ever let us go. Isn’t this great? So no matter what, God’s got us, always.  Does that mean we have a free ride to do whatever we want?  Don’t think so.

We all have witnessed the secularization of Christmas and Easter.  For many, faith is no longer a way of life defining who we are, but something to be trotted out on holidays.

So then, what does define us? We change jobs and careers with frequency, we have moved a lot, maybe even changed our names more than once.  Often, we are confused, perplexed.  We ask ourselves “who am I, anyway.”    These thoughts come up at critical times, scary and lifechanging.

Who are you?, ask yourselves, who am I  at the very center of my being?  Let us pray silently as we ask.  Given the number of self-help books out there,  people are yearning, craving, to figure this out.  They are not looking in the best place. The Bible tells us who we are, beloved creations of God, who do not need to worry only trust.   Our baptism confirms who we are in relation to God and our community.

Now as young people or adults we participate in baptism as a result of our salvation, not to obtain salvationYou can be saved by a quiet prayer to God accepting Jesus as your savior. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Being a Christian is being part of the community of believers, and baptism.  The public commitment to Christ and calling upon the Holy Spirit, is an essential step of becoming part of the body of Christ, the church. .  With infant baptism, it is the commitment of the parents and godparents.

Baptism calls us to live a good life, saying no to sin. And that is hard work. God loves you and embraces your baptism, accepting, transforming,  and including you in his kingdom.

Today, we have heard how baptism threads together not only the Bible’s stories of creation, Exodus, and Jesus, but also about the life of our church in the world.  We, as baptized believers, have a big responsibility.  We are mandated, blessed, and called to participate in the continuing history of God in our world, of Emmanual.  God with us. Baptism is the ground on which we stand linked to Jesus.  Thanks be to God. Amen.





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This website is in memory of Richard Snyder.

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