"Digging Out After the Big Snow"

Isaiah 42:1-9
Matthew 3:13-17

So baptism used to not be like it is now. It used to be you walked out into the river and got dunked under and you came up with river dirt in your hair and between your toes, and you felt whiter than snow. And in Jesus' day, it wasn't supposed to be this moment of joining the church or being brought into the Kingdom of God. It was a purity ritual  that you participated in so that you would be cleansed and purified before offering a sacrifice at the temple. You had to be washed before heading into the temple.

Somewhere along the line we brought the baptism ritual into the church and it became sanitary and nice and pretty and churchy.

It wasn't always that way.  I think baptism, even in early Christian tradition, used to be far more visceral and messy. It used to be out in the world, out in nature, not inside a fancy sanctuary.  Kind of like looking at a snowstorm out your living room window is much different than being stuck in it with your car or on foot and trying to dig out of it.  You really GET the storm when you are forced to dig your way through or out of it.

Baptism, in classic mainline Protestant terms, is usually a sacrament given to infants or children when their parents have made the decision that they are ready for the children's lives to be publicly marked by God. They are ready to commit as parents to being a Christian family and raise the children in a Christian home.  So, remembering your baptism is the visceral way many of us have of connecting to that moment in time. Some of us were baptized later and we remember well the feelings and emotions associated with that event. Either way, we have become too complacent in our celebration of this sacrament. It has become too routine.

What if we got down and dirty and were completely overtaken by the waters of Baptism?  What if we felt the sand or mud between our toes? What if we felt the rush of water pour over our heads?  Baptism is supposed to be shocking.   We are supposed to have our breath taken away by how it feels to be overtaken by the Spirit Waters.  

What if we thought, today at least, of Baptism as a big snowstorm that over takes us. That takes our sensibilities away and grabs us unexpectedly and pulls us off the road.  We have absolutely NO control over that snowstorm... it is here and it is pouring down on us fast and furious... we have to allow it to do what it does.

But then, the snow stops. The skies open up and clear (the heavens were opened up to him).  You get out and dig out your car... get it off and running again and slowly, carefully, head down the road. Ahead of you are lights, houses, people waiting for you (a dove descends).  People say, "Glad you are home, we were worried about you." (a voice from heaven speaks).

I think remembering our baptisms or being baptized should be a visceral event. It should feel like you have been overtaken by the snow, or been dunked under in the local swimming hole, or been knocked over by a wave in the ocean.  It should feel THAT dangerous, THAT crazy out of control.  And then, after that loss of equilibrium, you dig your way out...find your way out... come up for a new breath. And you are changed because of the overwhelming event that just happened.

Do you remember being overwhelmed if you were baptized as a youth or adult? Do you remember being overwhelmed when your kids were baptized as infants?  What ritual would make you feel overwhelmed by the Spirit today?  Email me or comment below.