Move 1. Water is one of the most important substances in the world. It is responsible for life, and for death.

It is a destructive force with which to be reckoned. It is not to be taken lightly. It has made itself known in the past few weeks, both in our country with the flooding in the Midwest, and half way across the world with the terrible tsunami, claiming thousands of lives, and utterly destroying the property of the survivors.

Though it is often swift and terrible, water also has a slow, steady quality to it. On a visit to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, time and water are the two things credited with the creation of the enormous and beautiful cavities beneath the earth’s surface. Water’s impact over hundreds of thousands of years can be seen by going to the Grand Canyon and looking down at the tiny ribbon of the Colorado River, barely seen from the rim a mile above.

Water is not only destructive, not only ageless, but it also is life-giving and cleansing. It is second only to air and perhaps heat in its importance to sustain life on the planet. And it is a superior if not necessary agent in cleaning the body, the floor, the dishes, and more.

Not much else can be said to have such significant life-giving, and yet such destructive death-dealing power.

Move 2. Maybe baptism by water was chosen for these reasons by Jesus. Maybe because of water’s power, baptism was what Jesus chose to undergo to embody what it meant to be powerfully a part of his new community of love and self-giving.

Of course, baptism was around long before Jesus. It was not invented by Jesus or by Christians. Forms of baptism and other water purification rites were part of Judaism before Jesus arrived on the scene.

Indeed, the baptism appropriated by Jesus took on the meaning of water in these purification rites. It took on the meaning of water as an ageless force, evident in the first part of Genesis with the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters, and in our Psalm read today with the voice of the Lord being over the waters. Baptism took on the meanings of water as a destructive force in Noah’s flood, and as a liberating force in the parting of the Red Sea. In short, the baptism of Jesus gathered within its own sphere of meaning the power and eternal quality of water.

The baptism of Jesus put an end to Jesus’ old life. It marked a new beginning for him, the start of his public ministry in Israel, signified by the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove, as it had once moved upon the face of the waters, and by his being named by God "my beloved Son."

The baptism underwent by Jesus, then, was done in water–ageless, purifying, deadly, liberating, life-giving water.

Move 3. We are a community of the baptized in Jesus’ name, brought from death to life, liberated, and loved. But how often do we consider our own baptisms, and what the sacrament means?

A few months after a trip to Israel, minister Ralph Milton wrote, "I was baptized twice last summer. The first time was in the Sea of Galilee. It was our first night beside that historic lake….I couldn’t wait to get to that water, half expecting to be able to walk on it. Something better happened. I stood there, up to my neck in water, and looked around and imagined Jesus and Peter and Mary of Magdala and all the world-changing events that happened around and on that lake….I felt a profound sense of awe and joy that I had received that heritage….And I came out an hour later feeling, yes, baptized.

A week later we were up near…(the) source of the Jordan (River), where the water is still clean and cold(.) I filled some bottles of that ‘holy’ water to bring home for the baptism of an expected grandchild. Standing up to my knees in the rushing water, I wanted to be baptized again. I was baptized when I was just over 20, but I knew so little then, had lived so little….Why not do it now, again?...So I cupped some water in my hands and poured the Jordan over my head and face, and said a small prayer of gratitude, and felt a deep and fundamental peace.

Perhaps it wasn’t baptism. Perhaps it was a confirmation of the half-understood words I uttered 35 years ago (when I was baptized). Perhaps it was a fulfillment of a promise made by God when (my pastor) poured that water on my head. (Yes, baptism) is just once. (But the) confirmation, the fulfillment, happens over and over and over. God’s gift is limitless." (Ralph Milton, Sermon Seasonings, 1997, as found in Aha!, Jan/Feb/March 2005, p. 12)

We who are baptized are to consider it "an ever-present reminder of our salvation, our nearness to God as the result of what God has done." We are to remember that the "same God who reached out to us and claimed us in our baptism continues to hold on to us in life," and in death, and in the life everlasting. (Aha!, Jan/Feb/March 2005, p. 12)

Conclusion. In his own times of despair, depression, and confusion, Reformation leader Martin Luther received comfort by touching his forehead, where he had been baptized, and saying to himself, "Martin, be calm. Baptismatus sum, Baptismatus sum," meaning "I am baptized." (Aha!)

You, too, are invited to share in this comfort by joining with me in reaffirming your baptism, by answering questions similar to ones that either you, or your parents or godparents, answered when you were baptized. If you would like to read along, these questions are listed on the back of the insert with the hymn of praise.

One: Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?

One: Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love?

One: Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?

Invitation to the Lord’s Supper and Remembrance. At this time, we are preparing to celebrate the other sacrament of our faith tradition, the Lord’s Supper. Today, though, we are going to do things a bit differently from usual.

First, we are going to come up front and receive the bread and cup from one of two different stations near the communion table. You will walk in a counterclockwise fashion, walking up the west aisle, and down the east aisle. We will start with the people seated in the back, and ushers will give the indication of who is to come up next.

Second, as you come up the west aisle, you are invited, if you would like, to dip your hand into the water of our baptismal font; you may place it on your forehead if you would like. Because this is not the sacrament of baptism, but simply a reminder of your baptism, we ask that only those who have been baptized place their hand in the water.

I invite the elders to come forward now as we prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. As we do so, let us remember our Lord, who was baptized, who showed us how to live for God, who died and was resurrected, and who lives today as our Savior.