‘Water’ way to start!

Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11

Water. There’s a lot of it about.

The earth’s surface is 71% water, that jacket spud you’re having for lunch is ¾ water, and even you, the person reading this, are a “bag of mostly water.” ¹ Your brain is almost entirely water. And where I live, in Britain, the stuff falls from the sky with monotonous regularity, which gives me a somewhat different take on water from the people who wrote and first read the Bible.

I see rain clouds and I think, ‘Oh great, another damp December day.” Jesus would have seen rain clouds and said, “Oh great!” and actually meant it! In the Bible, water is a blessing. Rain is a sign of God’s provision. Clouds denote God’s presence.²

So what with today’s readings? We start with creation, and the breath/wind/spirit of God hovering over the primordial waters. The psalmist sees God in the awe of a thunderstorm – his voice over the waters, enthroned over the flood. Then we find Paul baptizing new believers in Ephesus and finally, Jesus’ baptism by John. (Image by Daniel Bonnell)

We might feel on familiar ground here, but it’s worth bearing in mind that baptism was a rite used to for Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judaism. So why the heck would John baptise Jesus, a pious, observant Jew? Why would he baptise anyone? A Roman proselyte, perhaps. But there was no need to baptise Jewish people. That would be like marrying people who were already married.

But perhaps that’s the point. If you are married to someone, you don’t need to marry them again, but you might want to renew your vows. Particularly if you’ve gone through a really rough patch, almost broken up, but come out the other side and want to start again. Or may be your vows were a very long time ago and you’ve both changed since then, and you want to reaffirm that you’d marry each other again in a trice.

Whatever the reason, renewal of marriage vows is a beautiful and poignant reflection of God’s steadfast love, his hesed, a term almost untranslatable, it has such a deep, rich meaning. Check out the video below from Bible Project. Hesed is “wrapping up in itself all the positive attributes of God: love, covenant faithfulness, mercy, grace, kindness, loyalty – in short, acts of devotion and loving-kindness that go beyond the requirements of duty.” ³

And that’s the point of baptism, I think. All of us, Jew and Gentile alike, we all need to receive God’s hesed (say it with a lot of phlegm) and baptism is a sign of that. We are symbolically washed clean, we die to our old life and are raised to a new life, we are reborn, renewed, refreshed, rekindled. We are new creations. The old has gone; behold the new has come. (2 Cor 5:17)

Pretty snazzy message for the new year, eh?

One might even say ‘water’ way to start 2024!

OK, maybe not. Sorry. Too many cracker jokes.

1 According the silicon-based life forms of Velara III, you are an “ugly bag of mostly water,” but I was being polite. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAlqp0_a0tE9) BTW, Data was wrong. Humans are about 2/3 water by mass. Brains are 95% water.

2 You can find some rabbinic thoughts on water here: https://www.faithinwater.org/uploads/4/4/3/0/44307383/jewish_teachings_on_water-greenfaith.pdf

3 https://firmisrael.org/learn/the-meaning-of-hesed-hebrew-for-love/

Liturgy for The Baptism of The Lord

Genesis 1:1-5

Confession and Absolution

In the beginning God created.
Lord, forgive our wanton destruction of that which you created.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Lord, forgive us when we spread darkness instead of the light of your love.
Christ have mercy.
Christ have mercy.

And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Lord, forgive us when we squander the days you have given us, living as if this world were our home, and forgetting our home with you in heaven.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

May God who made us in his image, and pronounced us very good, forgive us, restore us and remake us to reflect his glory.
Amen.

Blessing and Dismissal

May the God who made all, remake us again in his image.
May the God through whom all light comes, lighten us again with his Spirit.
May the God of all our days strengthen us and fit us for heaven.
And the blessing …

Go as God’s beloved children and shine his light and love to all you meet.
We will go. We will shine.