Baptism of Christ

Is there a gift you haven’t used yet?

On the church WhatsApp group, we had some discussion this week about when the decorations should come down - and stayed split between the 5th and the 6th. A couple of diehards did point out that we’re still celebrating Jesus’ coming among us, and that the Queen leaves her decorations up to Candlemas on the 2nd of February - but Anita pointed out that the Queen doesn’t have to dust around them and pick up the pine needles.

I’m guessing that by now your tree is down, and all but the last few stray bits of tinsel have been put away until next time. But I wonder whether there’s still a present that you haven’t used yet, or maybe even unwrapped? Maybe it’s something that you can’t use just yet, with the lockdown, perhaps a promised trip somewhere or something you’d need to meet up with others to enjoy. Save it and enjoy the anticipation. Or maybe it’s something that you just haven’t got round to enjoying yet or haven’t had time to - just don’t forget it’s there and ready for you! There’s a real sadness in a gift that is never enjoyed.

Here in church, we’ve taken down the decorations, but the crib stays here for the rest of the month up to Candlemas, as we keep celebrating and reflecting on what it means for us that Jesus has come as one of us. After all, Christmas happened once and for all, more than 2000 years ago - but its meaning is something we still spend our lives wondering at.

Last week we remembered the visit of the Magi at Epiphany, travelling from distant lands to worship Jesus, bringing their own gifts with them. Traditionally this Sunday, the first after Epiphany, is one where we celebrate Jesus’ baptism, and remind ourselves of our own baptism.

Jesus’ baptism identifies him with us; ours identifies us with him.

Those two things go together. We celebrate Jesus’ baptism as part of celebrating his birth, even though he was around 30 at the time, not a baby. It’s important because it’s the moment where he makes the key decision to live out what he’s been born for; to identify himself, the sinless and holy and perfect Son of God, with all other people who do mess things up and need this sign of God’s forgiveness and new beginnings. The Word which became flesh in Jesus was always at the right hand of God the Father, from before time began. That Word was born as a human child, and as a man he chose to accept what he’d been born to. He chooses to go into the water of renewal like the Pharisees, the soldiers, the shepherds, the beggars and everyone else. He doesn’t need any forgiveness, but he chooses to walk the same way that we have to if we’re going to be forgiven. In baptism Jesus identifies himself with us. He becomes one of us.

And our baptism represents many things; a new beginning and the promise of as many new beginnings as we need; God’s cleansing love; but as well as all of that it is the sign that identifies us with Jesus, as his baptism identifies him with us. It’s something that happens once and for all for each of us - whether it’s as a baby, a teenager or an adult, we are baptised once, and its meaning is something we still spend our lives wondering at.

The great church reformer and theologian Martin Luther taught that our baptism is a point of certainty we can hold onto when we struggle in life and faith. His answer to depression, temptation, doubt was to remind himself - and when he needed to, to remind the devil - that ‘I am a baptised Christian’. There were moments when he couldn’t be sure about his belief, his holiness, his hope - but he knew for sure that he had been baptised, and that was his point of certainty.

If you have been baptised, then you, too, have that point of certainty and confidence that can’t be taken away. The words and the sign of promise, of forgiveness, of new beginnings, have been spoken over you, and your life is joined with Christ, even when you don’t feel like it. If you haven’t been baptised and are ready to be, then please get in touch, and we’ll talk about how to make that possible.

The unopened gift.

But maybe your baptism is a bit like an unopened gift under the Christmas Tree. It’s there, it’s yours, it’s been given to you. But you haven’t opened it and begun to enjoy it.

That’s a bit of what Paul found in Ephesus when he met some followers of John the Baptist. They’d been baptised, though not in the name of Jesus. And they didn’t know that God was waiting to help them to live out their baptism by sending his Holy Spirit. In our gospel reading, John promised that where he baptised in water, Jesus would baptise them with the Holy Spirit. Those disciples in Ephesus didn’t realise that was for real. Many people who’ve been baptised as Christians don’t realise it’s real either.

We’re talking about God making faith real, filling us with life. We’re talking about God himself washing over us, filling us with his love, freeing us from the guilt, shame, habit, apathy, whatever holds us back from living the life he wants for us. His promise to live in us and through us is part of where we start with baptism. He is the Spirit of Life, and he longs to lead us into more life, more of all that’s good in life.

Over the next few weeks we’ll thing about some different sides of finding and enjoying that freedom to live. But today we do a bit of unwrapping with repentance. That was the heart of John’s baptism, the turnaround that sets our lives on the right path once at baptism and then again and again every day as we listen to God moment by moment. When we do that, step by step we open ourselves to God’s life and Spirit in us. When we don’t, step by step we lose the joy, freedom and purpose he wants for us.

That’s why today we renew our commitment to the promises we made or that our godparents made for us when we were baptised, setting ourselves with God’s help back on track. Our baptism is a great gift to us - let’s unwrap it and enjoy it as we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit.