I am excited that we are baptizing three wonderful children this Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, one of our five key Baptismal Sundays in the Christian year. We had a preparation class with the families this past Saturday, which began with a Bible Study on Sunday’s Gospel: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.
Several of the families picked up on the beginning of the passage, “. . .the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts.” They shared that baptism is a time filled with hope and anticipation, but it also comes with questions. Am I ready for this as a parent? How do we faithfully follow Jesus today? Is God going to upend my life in the same way God showed up and surprised so many in Scripture by calling them into something new?
Two things happen at baptism. First, we are adopted as God’s children. Jesus becomes our brother. In the Gospel, the heavenly voice says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” These words for Jesus become God’s words for each of us. We hear echoes of them when we are sealed in Baptism. Anointing with Holy Oil (Chrism), the priest says, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and marked as Christ’s own forever.”
This is the easy part - knowing we are called, embraced and loved by God. That becomes our fundamental identity, which no one can ever take away. Now matter how hard the world tries to convince us otherwise, our highest worth and value come from God’s adoption of us, and that stays with us forever.
The second thing that happens is that we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are literally “ordained” (which means “set apart”) in baptism to be Christ’s hands and heart in the world. We each are gifted by God for the particular way God wants us individually to be a part of Christ’s body.
Such a calling is indeed justification for questioning. What gift has God given me? Can I live up to expectations? Can I raise my child to understand all of this? What if what God wants for me is different from what I want? (That’s easy, God figures out how to get our attention! ) Being a Christian is not easy. Like all relationships, it takes work. And that is what Christianity is - a relationship with God and with each other that honors and serves Christ’s presence. And yet, relationships can be the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences we can ever have. Christianity is not a “check the box” faith, but a relationship, and baptism is the formal start of that relationship, which grows over the course of our lives.
Do we feel ready? Maybe yes, maybe no. Are we up for it? Maybe yes, maybe no. It is actually a life long journey, of which baptism is just the beginning. We renew our own promises as the newly baptized make theirs for the first time as a recommitment to that journey. The good news is that each of our promises come with the response, “I will, with God’s help.” We are not in this alone. God gives us the strength, wisdom, and gifts we need. And we are baptized into a community which also promises to walk with us, support us and uphold us. Together, by God’s grace, we’ve got this. And that fills us with expectation and hope, despite whatever questions we may have.
Baptism: Expectancy and Questions