In the Name

Text: Mark 1:4-11; Acts 19:1-7
By: Rev. Terry Carty
Date: 01-08-2012
Place: Kingston Springs UMC
Season: Baptism of the Lord Sunday; First Sunday after Epiphany

Main Point

If we were baptized as infants, we may think of it as ritual. If we were baptized as adults, we may think of it as baptism from our sins. But if we remember our baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus, we are able to realize the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This leads us to live more fully.

Dying, Christ destroyed our death.
Rising, Christ restored our life.
Christ will come again in glory.
As in baptism we have put on Christ,
so in Christ may we be clothed with glory.

Here and now, dear friends, we are God’s children. What we shall be has not yet been revealed; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Those who have this hope purify themselves as Christ is pure.

Do any of you recognize these words?

These are the opening words of the funeral ritual for the United Methodist Church.

Yesterday, a number of us gathered at the funeral for Jim Schippers in the Roman Catholic Church. Father Steve at St Henry’s opened Jim’s service with words very similar to these. Then in his homily, Father Steve expanded on the same scriptures that we have heard today.

He explained that the baptism of John was a human ritual of repentance. It was a looking back, acknowledging sin, and a human commitment to lead a new life. Then he explained that the coming of the Holy Spirit is God’s act of regeneration – granting new life.

John Wesley, founder of Methodism and practical theologian, helped people understand this by explaining that our act of true repentance is met instantaneously by God’s forgiveness making new life possible.

Thinking over all this, it is too much to try to understand. And I am not sure that it is meant to be understood. That is why we refer to baptism and holy communion as “holy mystery.” In this mystery, we are led to ponder the deep feelings that come during our experience of closeness to God.

Whether we are baptized as an infant or baptized as an adult, we often find meaning in our baptism long after the water dries. That is the way it was with the 12 disciples that John found in Ephesus. They had been baptized with the baptism of John in repentance of sin. But they were totally unaware of the power for new life that comes from Jesus.

Although the scripture says that they were baptized in the name of Jesus, mere mention of the name was not what gave the power. The power came as they realized that the same Spirit that was seen at the baptism of Jesus is available to them – it is the power of regeneration.
When we say “remember your baptism and be thankful,” it is a call to pause and consider how God has been working in our lives since our baptism. And it is a call to open ourselves again to the new life that comes to us by the grace of God – in the name of Jesus.

Today we have the opportunity to remember our baptism and be thankful. This is a day in the church year that gives us time to pause an open ourselves to a greater depth of new life in the name of Jesus. Please find the insert in your bulletin and join me in this reaffirmation.