Jan 10th - In Person

Please pray with me. Lord, God, Heavenly Father lift up these brothers and sisters in Christ. I ask Your Spirit to reign in their hearts and their minds and their souls. To think about our baptism today, Jesus. We are amazed at Your grace. It comes to us through the sacrament. But you bring faith through the power of Your Holy Spirit and it's in Your name we pray. Amen.

George W Bush, in his first term, put a new word in the dictionary. What he said to his cabinet, he says "I am the decider." The decider up until that time was not a word, and you can say is it a noun is a verb? Well, he's the president so he decides. And that's how it works.

And I think about that, and in any decision that's made, you're going to have some people "you know, we could..." but would you rather have a person who's firm about the decision or a procrastinator? Someone who says "This is where we're going to go"? Or kind of over and over a "Well, we'll see. We'll see" I think you get what I mean. Fast forward a little bit when we use that word to 9/11 and maybe you know Ben Sliney, maybe you don't, but he was in charge of all of the FAA all of the airspace in America. And when the three planes hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon - in fact I had a lieutenant colonel Chapman was a good friend of mine, he was there at the Pentagon at the time. An LCMS pastor and I didn't hear for 4 days from him and it drove me nuts. And we had the other plane, remember, that was headed towards US Capitol and the people onboard grabbed the plane and they crashed in a field Pennsylvania. They all died. But anyway, Ben Sliney had to make a decision on what to do, and what he decided was he shut down all air space - I don't know if you remember this - except for emergency medical and of course our military.

After that decision, you know hindsight is 20/20. There were very few people that really questioned Mr. Sliney's decision. Now what you may not know is he was appointed to that position September 10th. The day before 9/11.

I would put you you that Mr. Sliney was a pretty amazing, man. To, in the midst of all that, being in your second day on the job, that's quite a leap, right? A quantum leap. It makes sense, because from that day on, not only was his life changed, but so were all of our lives changed.

So, I asked a question: is success determined by the leaps, the choices we make? Have there been choices at your life where you went back and you said "oh I could have did that differently"? I have.

Randy Myers made some dumb choices in his youth and was sent to prison in his early 30s. He served 21 years at the Indiana State University and during that time he come to realize that instead of blaming other people, he realized he was the one at fault.

So he started praying to God that he would be of use in some way. Started studying. Wanted to get some type of a degree, which he did and after 21 years, he was paroled out and became part of a mentors group where he could help others that were coming out of prison. He was later recognized by the state of Indiana for his efforts, later got married and was able to make something. But as he said it, "You know, I love my freedom so much. I had to hate who I was." Let me repeat that. "I love my freedom so much. I had to hate who I was."

Had to get rid of all of his old friends. In fact, he couldn't even see some of his family, because they were on the same path he was at the time. He had to start new.

And that's what I really want to talk about today, cuz when we talked about John the Baptist's baptism of Jesus, it was such a pivotal point in Jesus. 30 years old. That's about the year that you become a rabbi, right, you had to wait till that time. But He started His ministry with His baptism. Here's the sinless Son of God. Why does he need to be baptized? But he did it to fulfill. And also to show us who we are and what we are.

So think about our baptism and what it means to us. Because a lot of us were baptized - I was baptized when I was 8 days old.

Ed was 78 when he came to church on Christmas Eve in northern Minnesota - Reverend Jim Urinack's Church. Let me back up. Reverend Jim Urinack and my father were district execs for the Minnesota North District from the, oh, early 70s to late 80s.

But before Rev. Urinack was in the district office with my dad in Brainerd, Minnesota, he had a small parish just north of Bemidji. Now if you're on your Wiscosin map up here, you're at the border of UP, you're going over to Duluth, you keep going and it's just below that line. Okay, so we're Up North.

Anyway, back up. Ed started going to church Christmas Eve at Rev. Urinack's church. And after about three or four times, he came in he said Reverend, I'd like to join your church, but I've never been baptized, and I want to be baptized in the creek on my farm. He was a retire farmer. And so Rev. Urinack had this discussion because Edward was adamant that he needed to be immersed and it needed to be in his creek, or it really wouldn't be a valid baptism. And Rev. Urinack was like "no, no, no, that's not it. Just the water and the word." And they went back and forth back and forth and Ed kept coming to church, to worship. Finally, Easter. After the service, Ed came in to Rev. Urinack's office and he says "You're right. It doesn't matter whether I'm baptized up front at this baptismal font or not. I know it will be a valid baptism." And Rev. Urinack said "Ed, since you said that, next Saturday, we're going to baptize you in your creek on your farm."

Now, this is Easter. Remember where I said this was? The ice is just out, just so we know. Well, Rev. Urinack, he's no fool. He comes in. He's got waiters. Ed? He's got his blue jeans and a flannel shirt. He's grinning cuz he says, "I'm getting baptized in my creek. I'm going to be immersed." Sure enough, Ed walks in the water and Rev. Urinack walks in the water. And on his second step, he realizes there's a hole in his left boot. And it's filling up. Ed doesn't care. He's getting baptized. Ed didn't catch a cold. Rev. Urinack had just a small case of pneumonia.

I share that with you because what we believe. Is this the water and the word? Whether do we sprinkle it, weather we're immersed, or me - I'm up here. We had this baptism a few weeks ago, and I use my hand, and the baby gets wet, and I get wet, the font gets wet, the parents get wet. Whatever. This is what we learned, right? Can you share it with me? I'll read the question and you read. What is baptism? Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included on God's command and combined with God's word.

And what is that word of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

It is plain water - or another version says simple water - combined with God's powerful work.

You know it happened so long ago for us that we sometimes don't understand that. Martin Luther on his dying bed was asked a lot of different things, and one of those was "Are you sure, Martin?" He said three words. "I am Baptized."

Take your pointer. Put it on your forehead, please. I know. It's okay. It won't hurt. And just make the sign of the cross and say "I am Baptized."

It's that simple yet that powerful.

Ted read it. "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were burried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life." I want my freedom so much that I hate my old self.

Tara said it well: because of Christ living that life for us, dying on the cross and rising again, we too, experience that new life.

There's another aspect of it. Baptism leaps us into the Community of Faith. Think about the context of Jesus' baptism, because what did is say? He was out in the countryside and all the country of Judea was there. It was a public event. We come and worship, and we baptize publicly for two reasons.

One is so that we can again think of our baptism in what it means to us. As Tara said, each and every day we think about renewing that baptism in our lives. But as Reverend George Maxwell Jr. said - he's a Black pastor in Connecticut. I just love him. Cuz he has a baptism, and then he takes the child, and he walks down the congregation and says "This is So-in-So. She is now a child of God. She, now, is one of us."

And we had that baptism for those two children just a few weeks ago. They became one of us. They are now - cuz it was a boy and a girl - they are now brother and sister in Christ with all of Immanuel Lutheran Church. And with all of the kingdom of God.

And we are a part of that. We are who we are because of that. It Titus 3:5 it said "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration in the renewal of the Holy Spirit."

I always tell people "You know, God doesn't have grandchildren." I have six grandchildren. I am blessed.

But God only has children.

So what we think about what Reverend Maxwell said: when the child is baptized, becomes one of us, then we get to pray for them. We get to share their spiritual walk. They become a part of who we are. To me, that's what this old hymn is about:

"Blest be the tie that binds | Our hearts in Christian Love; | The fellowship of kindred minds | Is like to that above." Amen.