the water always wins

from my sermon on 1/8/12 from Mark 1:4-11

Sometimes life is hard, as hard as a rock (hold up a large stone). You know the stone cold loneliness of depression, being cut off from everyone. You know the stone cold loneliness of divorce as you reach across to the empty side of the bed. You know the stone cold loneliness of grief as you have lost someone you loved. You know the stone cold loneliness of addiction where your only companions are guilt and shame. Sometimes life gets hard. We have a saying, I'm between a rock...and a hard place.

The water seems so soft (pour water into baptismal font). But I am here to tell you incredible good news: The Water Always Wins. Watch this video (drop of water falls from an icicle that goes into creek, into stream, into river, into mighty river, which ends in the Grand Canyon!). I know that life can get hard, hard as a rock, but the water always wins.

Today, we start a 6 week series, a church wide study on the Treasures of the Transformed Life. The study has a major metaphor of water. Here's the 1st treasure, The Water Always Wins. Today, in the scripture we have Jesus getting baptized. We have only 2 stories of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke. How many stories do we have of Jesus baptism? Six! In all 4 gospels, Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn, plus Acts and Romans. Do you think the baptism of Jesus is at least as important as his birth? We are baptized because Jesus was baptized and asked us to continue this practice. We are baptized because Jesus continues to show up in this sacrament in the power of the Holy Spirit and changes lives. This is our sacrament of identity and belonging. The Water Always Wins.

Our Hebrew forebearers in the faith had a healthy respect for water. They were not a great seafaring people like their Phoenician neighbors. Therefore, our Bible begins in Genesis 1:2 with the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the chaotic waters (pour some water into baptismal font). In Genesis 6 when the creation is in the process of, to quote an AMC series, Breaking Bad, God wipes out all evil by a flood (pour more water). Later when the Hebrew people are leaving captivity in Egypt, they find the way to liberation through the parted waters (pour more water). In the wilderness the LORD provides for his children water from a rock (pour more water). When they enter the promised land, it is through the water of the Jordan River (pour more water). So water has an awesome power that overcomes evil, leads to liberation, sustains life, and opens to a promised land. The water overcomes the hardness of life. The water always wins.

I want to tell a story that I think I have told you before, but maybe you weren't here that Sunday or maybe you have forgotten. I had a friend in seminary named Dave Mosser. We played soccer together. I was a midfielder; he was a stricker, one who scored goals. Dave was a risk taker. I did my internship in ministry in Mason, Texas. He did his in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. He liked pushing the boundaries. At the close of his year in Liberia, he decided to take a day off at the beach. He wanted to do some body surfing, letting his body become a surf board, sliding down the face of the waves. Now these were not Corpus Chrisit waves. They were huge waves. But Dave is a risk taker, and was having a great time. The really big waves you learn to dive under the crest so it doesn't overwhelm you. Dave did this, and found himself really far from shore. No problem. He is a superb athlete and strong swimmer. He starts to swim to shore.....only to find himself further from shore. He swims all out....and is still further from shore...Can you say riptide? He is getting tired. All of his effort results in him being swept further out to sea. He rolls over on his back to catch his breath. He is floating there looking up at the blue sky and the seabirds. He thinks, Now this is just great. I spend a year in Liberia where I don't catch some fatal disease, or drink bad water or eat harmful food or get caught in political strife because I am a pastor....and what happens is that I die as a tourist while body surfing. After a few minutes, Dave hears the sounds of waves crashing on the shore. He looks up and in just a minute more of relaxing, the waves deposit him on the beach. The water always wins. Now you can fight against the tide of God's movement in your life. You can even drown and die trying to go your own way, but the flow of God's love is always to deliver you safely home. God only wants to save. Can you go with the flow? The water always wins.

Water has the power to create community. All the people were coming to John the Baptist to confess their sins, to repent and be forgiven. Jesus came too to join in that movement. But more, Jesus was baptized to create a new community. People need more than just forgiveness; they need relationship with God and with one another. Water has a wonderful way of connecting us.

There was a woman you may have heard of. Her name was Helen Keller, born in Alabama. She had a normal childhood until about 19 months of age when she was struck with probably scarlet fever. She lost her hearing and her eyesight. She became a wild child. Unruly. Unmanagable. The family got a teacher for her, a Miss Sullivan. But no breakthroughs until this scene from the film, The Miracle Worker, with Ann Bancroft as Teacher, and Patty Duke as Helen. (video clip of Helen finally understanding the word "water" as Teacher pumps the hand pump on the well. This starts an amazing connection as Helen realizes the ground, pump, tree, mommy, daddy). The water always wins.

As you see baptism is not something we do for ourselves, by ourselves, to ourselves. It is a gift...from God...from the community. It is our sacrament of identity. We know that we belong to God and God's people. Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? He had no sin. Maybe he was baptized because he needed to remember who he was from time to time. When things got hard, as hard as a rock, he could remember what the Father said to him, You are my child, the beloved one, with you I am well pleased.

Jesus may have needed to hear these words, because in the very next scene in Mark's gospel, he is driven into the wilderness to be tempted/tested by Satan. Now, I know you are educated, sophisticated people. You may believe in a Satan. You may think evil is simply a philosophical concept. I know the power of evil. It...and I choose that impersonal pronound intentionally is subtle, conniving, uncaring, driving us apart.

I tell you a story about evil. I was in a meeting recently with a pastor friend named Don. At the close of the meeting, we were telling preacher stories. Don said, I had a woman come to me who was going through a divorce. She asked me if I would baptize her 9 month old son. Now we pastors have been trained to teach, interpret, and protect the sacraments, to do them decently and in order. My funny line is that we don't do drive through baptisms. But this woman seems anxious, desperate to have her son baptized. Don asks the standard question we have been trained to ask, Has this child been baptized before? The woman replies, Kinda. Don't you love that Texas word, Kinda. Don says, What do you mean kinda baptized? The woman says, The man I am divorcing had our son when he was 4 months old baptized in the church of Satan. Don said, Absolutely we will have your child baptized in our church. He formed a prayer team to surround the woman and her son. He had the whole church in prayer on the day of his baptism. And Don performed the baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We need to hear God say, This is MY CHILD, the beloved one, with whom I am well pleased.

The good news I have to share with you today is that The Water Always Wins.