Epiphany VI: The Baptism of Our Lord

 

Good Sunday morning, good citizens of The Epiphany Season. On the liturgical calendar, we are celebrating the Baptism of Jesus, which doesn't have anything to do with him being an infant and going to church with his parents and godparents.

You can read all about it in the Gospel appointed for today, which is Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.

I've been meditating on this passage most of the week, and I've been caught up by the evangelical notion of the connection between baptism and being "born again".

In Greek understanding, "born again" is more accurately translated as "born from above," as the key Greek word, "anothen" primarily means "from above" rather than "again".

It's a spiritual rebirth, which makes perfect sense for Jesus's adult baptism by his cousin John in the River Jordan, but seems rather silly when linked to the baptism of an infant who has quite literally just been born.

I know one priest who, when the baby howled as the water was poured over their head, would always comment that this was evidence that part of the purpose of baptism was "exorcism". She would actually say, out loud, in the midst of the congregation, in front of the parents and godparents, "Well, there goes Satan."

She was serious. She was a smart woman. She seemed an otherwise good priest and pastor. Her Episcopal seminary, at least at the time, was held in high esteem.

I suspect that was at least one of the things she was taught and she embraced it fully. Perhaps she needed to feel more powerful than she actually was, poor soul.

Now, look, before you "go there," I just want to say - if you haven't already figured this out - that I'm pretty orthodox in my theology. I hold in high esteem the Two Great Sacraments (Baptism and Eucharist) and I have a deep affection for the five sacramental acts.

For the life of me, I've never figured out why Foot Washing is not one of the Sacramental Acts. I mean, it's as clear as the Eucharist that this is what Jesus wanted us to do.

I think there is more scriptural Foot Washing than Confirmation, but, you know, if I were going to have a headstone on my grave, I would have them carve the same words I once saw on a gravestone at Mount Auburn Cemetery in MA:

"Nobody asked me."

There is great symbolism to baptism. That's the nature of sacraments. An initiation or a test of patience, strength, or endurance is often called "a baptism of fire."

When I hear evangelicals talk about being "born again" I hear a metaphor for a movement from death to life, from the darkness of the brokenness of anger and separation to reconciliation; from the death of a life of addiction to recovery and renewal.

The words "saved" and "deliverance" are often used in conjunction with that understanding of being "born again". I've heard people say, "I was delivered from my addiction". Or "He was saved from a life of sin."

Which is fine. It's wonderful, in fact. Healing. Restorative. Life-giving. Redemptive. Sacramental.

So, yes, one can be born again and again. I certainly have had that experience. Several times in my life, actually.

I think the whole coming out process is a "baptism of fire". It's a process of being "born again" into a deeper understanding of the fullness of one's identity.

As a matter of fact, it doesn't happen just once. It's a lifelong process, akin to peeling the thin layers of an onion skin, which involves about the same amount of stinging and tears.

Based on my conversations over many years with friends and acquaintances, I suspect those who have the chronic, life-threatening disease of addiction feel much the same way. You have this one moment of clarity that leads to your sobriety but the only way to stay sober is, as any addict will tell you, "one day at a time."

I've had one person tell me that he is "born again every day into a new life of recovery." I think that's how he stays sober.

It's my experience that people who have received a diagnosis of a disease with a terminal implication, once they accept it, often experience a spiritual sense of being "born again." They feel committed to a new direction in their life, new meaning, new purpose, to live out whatever time they have left on this earth in making a difference.

People who struggle with the chronic, life-threatening disease of depression can have much the same experience, although I have heard more associations with resurrection than baptism.

Jonathan Kozol's book, "Ordinary Resurrections," gets its title from something my friend the Rev. Robert Corbin Morris once said. Talking about his lifelong struggle with depression, Bob said, "We all lie down. We all rise up. We do this every day. These are ordinary resurrections."

Jonathan Kozol writes, "I think God finds consolation in the tiny triumphs over daily oppressions by the least noticed of us, in the plainest places."

I think God is born again in those tiny triumphs in the plainest places.

The church claims "one faith, one hope, one Lord, one baptism," but the evangelicals are right: we are "born again" over and over, sometimes several times in one day.

The deal is that there is no one way or right way to be "born again". It's not something you can prescribe or proscribe or determine for someone else.

It's as Julian of Norwich said that Jesus our “true Mother” from whom we receive our beginning, our true being, protection, and love. In Jesus, we are all born again. And again. And, again.

But we only need to be baptized once.

I hope something good happens to you today.

Bom dia.