Remembering our Baptism

Psalm 29   Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.  The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.  The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.  The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”  The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.  May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Matthew 3:13-17        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.”

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At the Sermon Roundtable this week we discussed the selected texts for this Sunday, which marks The Baptism of the Lord.  Some questions that seem to always come up in this context were raised:  Why was Jesus baptized?  Does it mean the same thing as our Christian baptism?  Was there a Jewish tradition of baptism predating this?  And, of course, did anyone else hear that voice from heaven?

The Psalm was selected for this Sunday because of the image of God’s power over the waters.  I like to put baptism in the perspective of the myriad water images in the scriptures.  Water is primordial chaos.  It is powerful and destructive.  But the Lord’s power over the water is awesome.  In God’s hands, water becomes salvific.

I was reminded in our session of the value in reading aloud.  As we read the psalm responsively, we all became acutely aware of the voice of the Lord in this psalm.  We wondered together about the significance of this, noting that in the ancient world a voice was the means by which people learned so much.  The voice was powerful.  Does a voice still carry as much power?

In our discussion of the gospel text, we considered those questions noted above, and we also considered our own baptisms.  As we shared the stories of our own baptisms, we realized that each one is unique.  Each one carries its own personal meaning in addition to the shared meaning we invest in it. 

One recalled being told by a priest, “I would not baptize your bastard son,” because their marriage had taken place outside the Catholic church. 

I recalled a line from the story Lila, by Marilynne Robinson, which we read recently in our book group.  Lila was abandoned as a child, and cared for by a homeless woman, whose real name Lila never knew.  As an adult, Lila became concerned about getting baptized.  She said to the Reverend Ames, “Nobody seen to it for me,” when she was small.  This failure of anyone to do this for her seemed to be a great concern. 

It made me wonder what baptism says about our care for one another.  Whether or not we “see to it” for our children, whether or not we extend this gift to others, what criteria we use to decide who gets it and who doesn’t.  Do these things say anything about how well we care for one another?  Or not?

It is most likely unfair to assume that there is a lack of care involved when baptism is denied.  Each case is unique, each family is unique.  But I will think about baptism and care this week, just the same.  What do you think?