Remembering Your Baptism

I’ve been fascinated with the story of Noah’s Ark ever since I was ten years old.

Because when I was ten years old there was a movie released in cinemas that ended up being very popular in the States, called “In Search of Noah’s Ark.”

It was part documentary, part recreation of the Noah story. And it claimed that the remains of Noah’s ark had been found in the nation of Turkey.

I suppose it awoke a bit of an Indiana Jones spirit in me, because I was fascinated by the archaeological work done to prove that the Noah story was, in fact, real...and that evidence of that story still existed today high in the Armenian highlands.

Back in the 90s some of the theories put forth in the film, and also in a sequel that was released some time later, were shown to be…questionable at best.

For example, one piece of “ancient” wood that a man claimed to have found on Mount Ararat turned out to have been taken from some railroad tracks in California and hardened by cooking in an oven with various sauces and treatments.

In light of things like that, it’s easy…even common…for a lot of us to just dismiss the story of Noah’s Ark as 100% fiction, just a myth we turn into a children’s story.

But don’t be so sure.

Every few years, it seems, there is some archaeological evidence that comes along that seems to indicate there is something to this whole flood story in the book of Genesis.

There’s very good reason to believe that a calamitous flood event did take place, probably about 7500 years ago.

It’s probably the reason you find flood stories in more than just the Bible—other ancient religions speak about a horrible deluge as well.

Something happened. It’s not crazy to believe that.

We can’t just dismiss it all as a myth.

And I don’t think we can just dismiss it as a children’s story, either.

Jesus didn’t.

In fact, here’s an interesting Bible trivia tidbit for you—the story of Noah isn’t just in the Old Testament. It gets reference in the New Testament as well.

More than once.

Jesus talks about the story in the gospels, although to be fair he’s not really talking about Noah so much as he’s talking about the other people in Noah’s time who were living their lives oblivious to the decay happening around them, assuming they had all the time in the world.

That’s actually a good lesson for us.

But it’s not the New Testament bit about Noah I’d like us to think about for a short time today.

Earlier you heard another place in the New Testament where the story of Noah is referenced. In the 1stletter of Peter.

To understand what Peter is getting at in the passage we just heard, it’s important to know that he’s writing to a church that is going through a horrible time. They are suffering for their faith, persecuted for what they believe.

And Peter writes this letter to encourage them.

Part of his encouragement is to remind them of what Jesus has done for them. That’s what we heard from chapter three. Let’s listen to it again, this time from Eugene Peterson’s Message Bible:

It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.

Peter gives us a fascinating image to think about regarding the story of Noah. For him, it’s an image…of baptism.

Last week on Communion Sunday we talked about sacraments in the church, literally meaning “sacred mysteries.”

Communion is one of those sacred mysteries. Baptism is another.

Last week, you’ll recall, we talked about how a sacrament is “an outward sign of an inward grace.”

Nowhere is that more clear than in baptism.

The outward sign is water. The inward grace…is God’s forgiveness and transformation.

And Peter makes a great comparison to the story of Noah.

Noah and his family lived in two worlds. The first world was full of sin and evil and greed and contempt for the things of God.

But then they made a journey. Through water. And they emerged into another world, a world where they were given a chance to start over and live a new life in devotion and service to God.

What a powerful image for baptism.

A journey…through water…from sin to mercy, from fallenness to grace.

Peter refers to it as being “saved through water.”

He says of Noah’s flood…

“…this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience towards God.”

Now it’s important to note that as Christians we don’t believe that the waters of baptism have any magical properties. The water doesn’t save us.

But it symbolizes the saving work of God, as Peter talks about:

“It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.”

Earlier in this passage Peter walks us through everything Jesus has done for us: he suffered for our sins, he was put to death in the body, and then he was made alive in the Spirit. For what purpose, Peter says?

To bring us to God.

Just as the waters of the flood brought Noah and his family to safety, the waters of baptism bring us safely into the life God desires us to live, a life filled with faith and hope and meaning and purpose and forgiveness and grace.

The waters of baptism cleanse us, they restore us, they renew us.

And there’s another great theological word we use: the waters of baptism CLAIM us.

That’s what we’re showing every time we baptize an infant: that before they even know their own name, God has loved them and claimed them and done everything necessary to bring them to himself.

And when we baptize an adult, the imagery is just as profound, because we celebrate a choice that person has made to leave their old life behind and embrace a new life of faith.

Again, it’s a mystery exactly what happens in baptism.

But we do know this—it’s all about the grace of God shown in Jesus Christ.

But this brings us to kind of a sad fact.

In our increasingly secular culture, baptism is becoming kind of a rare event.

Sure, some families still christen their newborns out of a sense of tradition, but the statistics show that less and less baptisms are being performed in the church.

One study I read this week said baptisms are down by almost 50%.

There are a lot of reasons I find that tragic, but there’s one reason that we probably don’t think about all that much.

Because one thing that happens at a baptism is that the baptized members of the congregation are not just spectators.

We pledge at a baptism to be active in the life of the one whose claiming by God we celebrate. We promise to help them understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

But we do something else as well.

We pledge that for the one being baptized…and we also remember it for ourselves.

At every baptism I perform, whether I’m christening an infant or baptizing an adult, I always encourage the members of the church to remember their own baptism.

Not entirely in a literal sense…because a lot of us can’t actually remember the moment we were baptized.

But we remember what our baptism means. What it says to us about God and his love and his claim on our lives.

We recommit ourselves to him and to his service.

We remember our baptism.

So this morning we’re going to close our service by doing just that.

We don’t have a christening scheduled this morning, but that’s okay.

We can still take a moment to take a cue from Peter and pledge our lives in clear conscience to God.

We can celebrate the meaning of baptism and what it reveals to us, and we can take a moment to recommit ourselves to Christ and his service.

We can take a journey through the water.

[TRANSITION TO REMEMBERING OUR BAPTISM]

In Baptism, God our Father welcomes us into a covenant relationship with him, declaring that we are his children through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and that our future lies with him through the Holy Spirit.

Baptism is a powerful sign that God’s grace is not dependent on anything we do -but is poured out quite freely on each of us. The grace of God in Christ Jesus has the power to change our lives enabling us to die to the world and to rise again to newness of life in Christ Jesus our Lord. But that grace can only make a difference to us as we make it our own, responding to the love of God in Christ Jesus simply by turning and trusting ourselves to him in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ: through the Sacrament of Baptism we have been joined into Christ’s holy Church. We share in the story of God’s mighty acts of salvation, and we receive new birth through water and the Spirit.

These are the gifts of God, offered freely to all.

Let us pray:

Eternal and gracious God, we give you thanks.

In countless ways you have revealed yourself in ages past,

and have blessed us with signs of your grace.

We praise you that through the waters of the sea

you led your people Israel out of bondage,

into freedom in the land of your promise.

We praise you for sending Jesus your Son,

who for us was baptized in the waters of the Jordan,

and was anointed as the Christ by your Holy Spirit.

Through the baptism of his death and resurrection

you set us free from the bondage of sin and death

and give us cleansing and rebirth.

We praise you for your Holy Spirit,

who teaches us and leads us into all truth,

filling us with a variety of gifts,

that we might proclaim the gospel to all nations

and serve you as a royal priesthood.

We rejoice that you claimed us in our baptism,

and that by your grace we are born anew.

By your Holy Spirit renew us,

that we may be empowered to do your will

and continue forever in the risen life of Christ,

to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all glory and honor,

now and forever.

Amen.

Let us renew the covenant declared at our baptism, acknowledging what God is doing in, through, and for us, and affirming our commitment to the body of Christ, His church.

Do you believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, if so, please reply, “I do.”

Do you recommit yourself to the teachings of Christ, and pledge your life to His service, if so, please reply, “I do.”

Will you remember the grace of God shown to you in baptism, and look to Him alone as the one who has claimed you, redeemed you, loved you, and called you, if so, please reply, “I will.”

Remember your baptism and be thankful. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.