Sermon Archive

Second Birth

On Sunday, December 26, 2004, a strong underwater earthquake unleashed against the coasts of Asia and Africa a rolling, roiling wall of water—the killer "tiger wave" we call a tsunami. And that wall of water took hundreds of thousands of lives.

Then, on Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina triggered the horrific flood waters that inundated New Orleans, and rain and pounding waves assaulted much of the Gulf Coast, forcing the evacuation of some million and a half people and causing the deaths of thousands of others. Tsunamis and floods—waters of death and destruction.

But of course, as we on this planet of ours have come to know well, water is not only a potential source of catastrophe. It is, far more importantly, an absolute necessity for life.

In this morning's First Lesson, which constitutes the very first verses of the whole Bible, we find described for us a great cosmic ocean of water over which God's Spirit broods and from which all of life emerges.

And we know as well that there's yet another body of water amidst which each and every human life is formed and developed—the waters of a mother's womb.

During the days from Christmas to Epiphany, which was just this past Friday, the church celebrates the birth of the baby Jesus; we celebrate his emergence from the waters of Mary's womb.

And now on this first Sunday after Epiphany, we transfer our focus from the celebration of Jesus's first birth from water—his physical birth from the womb—to the celebration of Jesus's second birth from water—his birth, through baptism, into his Spirit-filled vocation.

Yes, the Gospel of Mark understands Jesus's baptism in the Jordan River to be a second birth, the one that launches him on his Spirit-filled ministry as God's Son.

And on this First Sunday after Epiphany, God is inviting each of us to understand our own baptism in the symbolic "river" that is the baptismal font—God is inviting each of us to understand our baptism as a second birth, as the birth that has launched us on a Spirit-filled ministry as daughters and sons of God—launched us on our vocation of fulfilling a life of love toward God and neighbor.

Baptism—the water of life, the holy water of second birth, through which the power of the Holy Spirit is given to us.

When we were baptized, our Creator, the One who formed us in the womb—our Creator went on to wash us and cleanse us, and to call us by name to receive the power of the Holy Spirit—that we might serve both God and neighbor throughout our lives.

Baptism—the water of life, the holy water of second birth, through which the power of the Holy Spirit is given to us.

Although we Christians are baptized just once in our lives, God invites us on this Sunday near the beginning of the New Year, on this Baptism of the Lord Sunday—God invites us to prepare ourselves for our tasks of ministry in the year ahead by renewing our baptismal vows, by opening ourselves once again to being cleansed by God's grace, and by experiencing afresh the power of the Holy Spirit both within us and among us.

Baptism—the water of life, the holy water of second birth, through which the power of the Holy Spirit is given to us.

Now, today is also a day when we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. So on this Communion Sunday, when we are remembering the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, let us who have been baptized in the name of Jesus remember that we are a people of water and that we have come here today to worship the God whose creating and saving love flows through water—the water of oceans and rivers, the water of the womb, the water of baptism, the water of baptismal renewal!

It is often asked, "But where was God in the times of the tsunami and of Hurricane Katrina?" And here's at least a partial answer to that question: God's Holy Spirit was present during those times in part through the actions of persons who were prompted by their baptism, by their vocation as children of God, to offer their individual and collective outpourings of physical and financial assistance in the face of such calamity and staggering need.

For you see, through the second birth of baptism people are empowered by the Holy Spirit for ministries of compassion and justice, and through baptismal renewal, drawing on the power of this same Spirit, we rededicate ourselves to the vocation that is ours as followers of Christ—the vocation of fulfilling a life of love toward God and neighbor, of ministering to others in the name of Christ.

So this morning, as we prepare to sit at the Table of Christ and to be equipped afresh by God for ministry during this crucial year in the life of our world and nation and in the life of this congregation, let us come to the font to wash our hands and to open ourselves anew to the healing and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, the power that is mediated to us both through bread and wine and through this water that symbolizes the water of our baptismal covenant—the water of life, the holy water of second birth.

Let us pray:
O Holy Spirit, You who in the beginning hovered over the cosmic waters, You who formed Jesus in the water of Mary's womb, You who at Jesus's baptism descended in the form of a dove, You who at Pentecost descended again to form the church, You who at our baptism descended yet again to form each of us in Christ-like vocation—O Holy Spirit, come to us afresh this day and renew us by Your power. Amen.