But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Isaiah 43:1-2
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Matthew 3:13-17
I always get so excited when our students are asked to lead a retreat for groups in our presbytery, as they were asked to last weekend. It is incredible to see the group come together, talk through the theme, think about Scripture, and walk through keynote times together. Once we have done that, though, I just kind of sit back, let go, and watch them plan individual keynotes as smaller groups. It was such a joy last weekend to hear and see and watch what they had come up with, to watch as they interacted with the junior highs, to watch them get nervous and get emotional and get excited as they led the groups.
We talked about love last weekend, it being Valentine’s Day weekend and all—we talked about love, the philos or brotherly love that Christ calls us to show for each other. The students led us through the story of the Good Samaritan, challenging us to always show our love for each other as we serve each other. We talked about the eros kind of love, the erotic love formed as flirting commences and relationships first begin, the bond of love sowed deeper as folks get to know each other, get to know each other’s hearts and souls. And we talked about agape love, the unconditional love that God shows for every one of us, the love shown in creation, the love shown in God’s community, the love shown in the grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Christ.
Wyatt and I worked together last weekend, and we focused on the imagery of water, water that reflects God’s unconditional love for us—the water that was first used to shelter Moses from certain death as his mom laid him in the basket to float to safety, the water that carried him to the Pharoah’s daughter, as she rescued him and loved him as her own. That water reflected the incredible, deep, and unconditional love that these two women had for this little baby. That water of unconditional love carried him to safety and new life.
As we continued to talk about the idea of unconditional love, we talked about the water imagery shown to us through the story of Jesus’ baptism. This story of Jesus’ baptism really is a great one, one of my favorites. I love that Jesus asks John to baptize him, and that even though we are told that John is the one who prepares the way for Christ, prepares all of us for Christ, John is still nervous, indignant, really. “Whoa,” he says, “Don’t I really need to be baptized by you? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t you be the one doing the baptizing?” But Jesus responds, “No, it has to be this way. You baptize me. This will be the first sign of the righteousness that I will be speaking about soon.” So they go down to the Jordan, and John baptizes him, cleanses him, washes him, shows Jesus that he is indeed welcomed into the kingdom. But it doesn’t stop there. As Jesus is washed with the water, the heavens open up. A voice descends like a dove (I really, really love that imagery of the voice soaring and landing like a majestic and beautiful bird). And that voice graces us with beautiful words: “You are my Son, my Beloved, and I am so very pleased with you.” I am so pleased with you.
Those are the words of unconditional love. No matter what, NO MATTER WHAT, you are my Son. My daughter. My child. And I am so very pleased with you. God claimed Jesus that day in the Jordan River, claimed him as a beloved and special Son. And God does the same for us. Baptism is a sign that we are claimed, that we are incorporated into the body of Christ, a sign that we are united with each other, that we are made one in the body of Christ. Baptism reminds us so greatly that we are loved and forgiven and graced unconditionally, that we are beloved. It reminds us that, no matter what, God is with us, walking beside us, welcoming us, loving us.
Whether we are baptized at 8 months or 8 years or 80, even, it is a reminder that God is with us and loving us, that God was with us when we were being formed in our mother’s womb, that God was with us when we came into the world. One of the greatest joys in my life was that I got to baptize my niece—my very first baptism as a minister. I already knew that I loved her unconditionally, that I would do anything for her, that I would live for her or even die for her if I had to, but wow, it really was incredible to baptize her, to say those words to her, that she is loved so greatly. That she is truly one of God’s beloved children. That she will experience such great and deep unconditional love in her life. That she is welcomed into the kingdom of God. What a special day that was!
But these waters of unconditional grace and love are not just given for us at the beginning of our lives—they are waters that wash through our lives each and every day, though every good time and bad time alike, throughout all of our years. The waters of God are there at the beginning of our lives, and they are waters that welcome us home at the end. I love the words from our Old Testament reading today:
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
These words from Isaiah have always been very special to me, but they became even more special to me in the wake of Drew Whitten’s death a few years ago. For those of you who are new to our church family, Drew was one of our students—he lived here at the church, was very active in our college group, even served on the committee that called me here. He was kind and humble and generous and faithful and funny and loving. But, unbeknownst to those who loved him so, he was also sad and depressed—so much so that he took his life. As I was sitting in my office right before our prayer service on that awful Saturday, the day after his lovely life came to such an awful end, one of the other students came in my office and said, “Rachel, can I ask you a question? I’ve always heard that someone who takes their life won’t go to heaven. Where do you think he is right now?”
My heart broke all over again, for Drew, for her, for all of us. But I reached out for my Bible and read this passage for her from Isaiah, really because it was the only way I knew how to answer her question. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you . . . when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” I said to her that I really believe that God would not go through the trouble of creating someone and loving them unconditionally—and then not redeem them. I said to her that he had obviously passed through some really dark and overwhelming rivers, but that God was with him all along the way. I said to her that I could not imagine a God who would take away unconditional love during Drew’s worst time of despair. I’m not sure that I had actually ever said those things before, but I know that I believed them.
Because, friends, I truly believe that the waters of God run deep and wide. Those waters run deep and wide for all of us. These waters of great, unconditional love are waters that carry us to safety, waters that cleanse and nurture us, waters that wash us to something new, waters that carry us from dark times to bright ones, waters that carry us to forgiveness and grace, waters that welcome into God’s family and welcome us home when the time comes. I truly believe that those waters that Moses floated through were waters of salvation, that those baptismal waters in the Jordan that day were waters of grace and welcome and love. I love how one theologian puts it:
Nothing in creation has the power to remind us so fully of the work of our Lord as the common substance of water. This our Lord gives us at baptism as a token of his saving grace, so that from the time of our initiation onward we may be reminded of all our Lord has done for us, so that we may see ourselves as a people united to Christ and to one another [through Christ.]
I love that description of baptism: these waters remind us of God’s enormous, incredible, overwhelming love for us—in good times and bad, over the highest peaks to our lowest, deepest valleys, from the beginning to the end, and everywhere in between. Thanks be to God.
We talked about love last weekend, it being Valentine’s Day weekend and all—we talked about love, the philos or brotherly love that Christ calls us to show for each other. The students led us through the story of the Good Samaritan, challenging us to always show our love for each other as we serve each other. We talked about the eros kind of love, the erotic love formed as flirting commences and relationships first begin, the bond of love sowed deeper as folks get to know each other, get to know each other’s hearts and souls. And we talked about agape love, the unconditional love that God shows for every one of us, the love shown in creation, the love shown in God’s community, the love shown in the grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Christ.
Wyatt and I worked together last weekend, and we focused on the imagery of water, water that reflects God’s unconditional love for us—the water that was first used to shelter Moses from certain death as his mom laid him in the basket to float to safety, the water that carried him to the Pharoah’s daughter, as she rescued him and loved him as her own. That water reflected the incredible, deep, and unconditional love that these two women had for this little baby. That water of unconditional love carried him to safety and new life.
As we continued to talk about the idea of unconditional love, we talked about the water imagery shown to us through the story of Jesus’ baptism. This story of Jesus’ baptism really is a great one, one of my favorites. I love that Jesus asks John to baptize him, and that even though we are told that John is the one who prepares the way for Christ, prepares all of us for Christ, John is still nervous, indignant, really. “Whoa,” he says, “Don’t I really need to be baptized by you? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t you be the one doing the baptizing?” But Jesus responds, “No, it has to be this way. You baptize me. This will be the first sign of the righteousness that I will be speaking about soon.” So they go down to the Jordan, and John baptizes him, cleanses him, washes him, shows Jesus that he is indeed welcomed into the kingdom. But it doesn’t stop there. As Jesus is washed with the water, the heavens open up. A voice descends like a dove (I really, really love that imagery of the voice soaring and landing like a majestic and beautiful bird). And that voice graces us with beautiful words: “You are my Son, my Beloved, and I am so very pleased with you.” I am so pleased with you.
Those are the words of unconditional love. No matter what, NO MATTER WHAT, you are my Son. My daughter. My child. And I am so very pleased with you. God claimed Jesus that day in the Jordan River, claimed him as a beloved and special Son. And God does the same for us. Baptism is a sign that we are claimed, that we are incorporated into the body of Christ, a sign that we are united with each other, that we are made one in the body of Christ. Baptism reminds us so greatly that we are loved and forgiven and graced unconditionally, that we are beloved. It reminds us that, no matter what, God is with us, walking beside us, welcoming us, loving us.
Whether we are baptized at 8 months or 8 years or 80, even, it is a reminder that God is with us and loving us, that God was with us when we were being formed in our mother’s womb, that God was with us when we came into the world. One of the greatest joys in my life was that I got to baptize my niece—my very first baptism as a minister. I already knew that I loved her unconditionally, that I would do anything for her, that I would live for her or even die for her if I had to, but wow, it really was incredible to baptize her, to say those words to her, that she is loved so greatly. That she is truly one of God’s beloved children. That she will experience such great and deep unconditional love in her life. That she is welcomed into the kingdom of God. What a special day that was!
But these waters of unconditional grace and love are not just given for us at the beginning of our lives—they are waters that wash through our lives each and every day, though every good time and bad time alike, throughout all of our years. The waters of God are there at the beginning of our lives, and they are waters that welcome us home at the end. I love the words from our Old Testament reading today:
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
These words from Isaiah have always been very special to me, but they became even more special to me in the wake of Drew Whitten’s death a few years ago. For those of you who are new to our church family, Drew was one of our students—he lived here at the church, was very active in our college group, even served on the committee that called me here. He was kind and humble and generous and faithful and funny and loving. But, unbeknownst to those who loved him so, he was also sad and depressed—so much so that he took his life. As I was sitting in my office right before our prayer service on that awful Saturday, the day after his lovely life came to such an awful end, one of the other students came in my office and said, “Rachel, can I ask you a question? I’ve always heard that someone who takes their life won’t go to heaven. Where do you think he is right now?”
My heart broke all over again, for Drew, for her, for all of us. But I reached out for my Bible and read this passage for her from Isaiah, really because it was the only way I knew how to answer her question. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you . . . when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” I said to her that I really believe that God would not go through the trouble of creating someone and loving them unconditionally—and then not redeem them. I said to her that he had obviously passed through some really dark and overwhelming rivers, but that God was with him all along the way. I said to her that I could not imagine a God who would take away unconditional love during Drew’s worst time of despair. I’m not sure that I had actually ever said those things before, but I know that I believed them.
Because, friends, I truly believe that the waters of God run deep and wide. Those waters run deep and wide for all of us. These waters of great, unconditional love are waters that carry us to safety, waters that cleanse and nurture us, waters that wash us to something new, waters that carry us from dark times to bright ones, waters that carry us to forgiveness and grace, waters that welcome into God’s family and welcome us home when the time comes. I truly believe that those waters that Moses floated through were waters of salvation, that those baptismal waters in the Jordan that day were waters of grace and welcome and love. I love how one theologian puts it:
Nothing in creation has the power to remind us so fully of the work of our Lord as the common substance of water. This our Lord gives us at baptism as a token of his saving grace, so that from the time of our initiation onward we may be reminded of all our Lord has done for us, so that we may see ourselves as a people united to Christ and to one another [through Christ.]
I love that description of baptism: these waters remind us of God’s enormous, incredible, overwhelming love for us—in good times and bad, over the highest peaks to our lowest, deepest valleys, from the beginning to the end, and everywhere in between. Thanks be to God.
