Renewing Spirit
Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Here’s an odd question for Anniversary Sunday… Do you remember your baptism? If you’re like me, chances are you probably don’t remember the event itself, but that’s not what I am after. Do you remember your baptism?
Have we ever sat down and thought about God’s presence in our life? Have we ever looked toward significant events in our own history and wondered how it all came about? What went wrong? What went right? With it being anniversary Sunday, Baptism seems an appropriate metaphor. Each time a community participates in this sacrament, there is an opportunity to remember its significance. In this respect, Baptism transcends time. There is the event, the act of administering water, but there is also the act of remembering our own and how we are a part of this experience.
Baptism is a one-time event in which the community outwardly affirms that each of us is a child of God —therefore part of that community. It is a testament to God’s love. Baptism did not make you a child of God. You already were, you already are. Baptism functions as symbol of this reality. It is an expression of God’s grace, which God has written love upon our hearts and we are called to live out that love.
Just because baptism is an outward event, it does not make it the only time in which God was present in our life. Whenever we celebrate this sacrament, God hands us the opportunity to try to see all of those times where God was and is present. This is what it means to remember our baptism.
So think about it. Why are you sitting here? Why are you sitting here now? What brought you here? Do you see a pattern? Asking all of these questions helps us to put things into perspective. Is your life a series of random happenings, or is there something more? The act of remembering helps us to get a fresh perspective upon past events, and turn with hope to the future. This is especially appropriate on this 48th Anniversary Sunday, where we remember our beginnings as a congregation.
When it comes to the text, at first glance, it appears to be a ridiculous proposition. Looking to Jeremiah for a lesson on Baptism is historically backward! Jeremiah lived, preached, and died centuries before the origins of this sacrament. It is simply bad history to assume that Jeremiah knew something about Christian baptism - a ritual that would not really exist for another five hundred years! However, Jeremiah’s own experience of God is hard to ignore. While the prophet would never know baptism as we know it, his understanding of his own calling was very strong. Jeremiah’s own context, and his powerful sense of God’s presence, may help us to understand our baptism —and ourselves— better.
Jeremiah offers a great deal of reflection and hope. A voice of both doom and hope in the midst of a very difficult and trying time.
When we encounter Jeremiah, he is standing in the midst of the devastated land of Judah. He knew what had happened, and how right he had been. He felt no joy about being right at all. The Empire of Babylon, had just laid waste to the land. Their armies had marched westward, conquering as they came. Judah, the kingdom that the people believed would never fall, stood in their way. Jeremiah saw it coming, but nobody believed him. Now here he stood, some twenty-plus years into his ministry, vindicated only by the ashes and rubble of the Temple. Being right felt hollow.
After all of this, Jeremiah had to ask, was it all worth it? The best and the brightest had been carried off into exile. The hopes of the eternal kingdom of Israel had been all but smashed. For Jeremiah, this was a truly traumatic event. He watched his people gathered up and herded away to the east, while he would later be taken to Egypt by fleeing refugees. The destruction he told everyone was coming was now here. Yet in the midst of this desolation, Jeremiah remembers his own calling. He remembers God touching him, and calling him to speak to Judah. He remembers his own reluctance and his lack of experience —how green he really was. He remembers God’s compelling —and hopeful— presence. Jeremiah felt and heard this whisper of hope:
“The days are surely coming, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel... it will not be like the covenant that I once made... I will put my law within them, and I will write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will by my people.”
Despite the circumstances that surrounded him, Jeremiah had a deep understanding of God’s presence in all that was going on. Jeremiah’s experiences can hardly be called positive ones. Like most of us, the prophet understood all too well the harshness of life. Of all of the prophets, we are most aware of his anguish. He mourns the reality of his fallen nation, and yet he knows that in the midst of all that God was still there. Yes, it was worth it.
God called Jeremiah to remind Judah of their Covenant. He reminded them of how God had carried them out of Egypt. How God had carved a path through the waters of trouble and into the Promised Land. Jeremiah knew that God was the God of love. God did not and would not turn away from Israel. Despite the horrible circumstances that he saw around him, Jeremiah knew that God was still there. This was such a striking contrast in view of the shattered nation. Yet the prophet’s reflection on the past gave him hope for the present, despite the harsh reality of the exile. It allowed him to make sense of the chaotic, unpredictable, and scary times that he was experiencing. It allowed him to look to the future with hope. Jeremiah remembered, that even in the ashes of Judah lay seeds of optimism. That while he was called to “uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow,” Jeremiah was also called “to build, and to plant.” Something new was going to happen.
Jeremiah’s reflection on his life is something that can help us when we look at our own. In the midst of the traumatic events of history, Jeremiah looked back and saw God present in all of it. Yet his feelings toward this were not universally positive, nor should they have been. Jeremiah’s anguish is apparent in many of his prophetic writings. Yet despite whatever grief he might have felt, Jeremiah also knew the hope and the joy of God’s love. He knew the promise of the covenant. He knew God’s presence and love. Despite the present circumstances, Jeremiah would still carry on with hope. His writings would later inspire generations of Israelites, those in exile, and those who would return and restore the land. His sense of hope in the face of such adversity would ring true for thousands of years after his death. The seeds had been planted, and the foundation had been laid.
For us, remembering our baptism is not unlike Jeremiah reflecting on his call. For the prophet, even standing in the midst of the rubble there was a profound sense of rightness. It did not come easily, or without a deep struggle with his faith. Jeremiah understood that God had been there all along, present with him, with Israel, with all of creation long before he realized his calling. In essence this future hope of God’s covenant being written upon our hearts was beginning to happen. Jeremiah sensed that he could not and never could have been anything other than a prophet. Similarly, baptism reminds us that all of us can not and never can be anything other than children of God.
Up until now, everything has been done to us or for us. God’s grace as expressed through the sacrament of baptism, like communion, is something we receive. We don’t deserve it, nor can we earn it. God writes love upon our hearts, and calls us to respond. Yet when faced with the call to live out our baptism —to be the children of God— we find it an uncomfortable thought. God could not possibly called me —I am too young. I am too old. I don’t have the resolve. I don’t have the strength. Please God, find somebody else —anybody else but me! Jeremiah also tried this too, look where it got him. After all was said and done, the prophet would not have it any other way.
Yet despite the all protests and our reluctance, the call of baptism does not go away. We are the children of God. It does not matter if we were sprinkled, splashed, dashed, or soaked. It does not matter when we were baptized. We are called to live as people redeemed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are called to live out our baptism by reflecting God’s inseparable love to everyone. We are called to be the children of God.
No one said this would be easy. Jeremiah knew that he alone did not have the strength, wisdom, or patience to rise to his prophetic role. He knew that despite all that he saw as against him, God was still there. This is also true for us. With the gift of baptism is the understanding of God’s loving presence, making us whole and working through us in ways we can barely fathom. While Jeremiah may not have understood baptism as we know it, his experience of God teaches us a powerful lesson. We remember God’s words to Jeremiah “do not be afraid... for I will be with you...” Despite our shortcomings, we are called to live out our baptism, to make it real. We are called to plant seeds of hope in the midst of despair. We are called to speak meaning to a generation who have none. We are called to reflect God’s presence, God’s love in Christ in all that we are.
It is something I hope that we are able to remember and reflect upon for our Anniversary as a congregation. Amen.
Here’s an odd question for Anniversary Sunday… Do you remember your baptism? If you’re like me, chances are you probably don’t remember the event itself, but that’s not what I am after. Do you remember your baptism?
Have we ever sat down and thought about God’s presence in our life? Have we ever looked toward significant events in our own history and wondered how it all came about? What went wrong? What went right? With it being anniversary Sunday, Baptism seems an appropriate metaphor. Each time a community participates in this sacrament, there is an opportunity to remember its significance. In this respect, Baptism transcends time. There is the event, the act of administering water, but there is also the act of remembering our own and how we are a part of this experience.
Baptism is a one-time event in which the community outwardly affirms that each of us is a child of God —therefore part of that community. It is a testament to God’s love. Baptism did not make you a child of God. You already were, you already are. Baptism functions as symbol of this reality. It is an expression of God’s grace, which God has written love upon our hearts and we are called to live out that love.
Just because baptism is an outward event, it does not make it the only time in which God was present in our life. Whenever we celebrate this sacrament, God hands us the opportunity to try to see all of those times where God was and is present. This is what it means to remember our baptism.
So think about it. Why are you sitting here? Why are you sitting here now? What brought you here? Do you see a pattern? Asking all of these questions helps us to put things into perspective. Is your life a series of random happenings, or is there something more? The act of remembering helps us to get a fresh perspective upon past events, and turn with hope to the future. This is especially appropriate on this 48th Anniversary Sunday, where we remember our beginnings as a congregation.
When it comes to the text, at first glance, it appears to be a ridiculous proposition. Looking to Jeremiah for a lesson on Baptism is historically backward! Jeremiah lived, preached, and died centuries before the origins of this sacrament. It is simply bad history to assume that Jeremiah knew something about Christian baptism - a ritual that would not really exist for another five hundred years! However, Jeremiah’s own experience of God is hard to ignore. While the prophet would never know baptism as we know it, his understanding of his own calling was very strong. Jeremiah’s own context, and his powerful sense of God’s presence, may help us to understand our baptism —and ourselves— better.
Jeremiah offers a great deal of reflection and hope. A voice of both doom and hope in the midst of a very difficult and trying time.
When we encounter Jeremiah, he is standing in the midst of the devastated land of Judah. He knew what had happened, and how right he had been. He felt no joy about being right at all. The Empire of Babylon, had just laid waste to the land. Their armies had marched westward, conquering as they came. Judah, the kingdom that the people believed would never fall, stood in their way. Jeremiah saw it coming, but nobody believed him. Now here he stood, some twenty-plus years into his ministry, vindicated only by the ashes and rubble of the Temple. Being right felt hollow.
After all of this, Jeremiah had to ask, was it all worth it? The best and the brightest had been carried off into exile. The hopes of the eternal kingdom of Israel had been all but smashed. For Jeremiah, this was a truly traumatic event. He watched his people gathered up and herded away to the east, while he would later be taken to Egypt by fleeing refugees. The destruction he told everyone was coming was now here. Yet in the midst of this desolation, Jeremiah remembers his own calling. He remembers God touching him, and calling him to speak to Judah. He remembers his own reluctance and his lack of experience —how green he really was. He remembers God’s compelling —and hopeful— presence. Jeremiah felt and heard this whisper of hope:
“The days are surely coming, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel... it will not be like the covenant that I once made... I will put my law within them, and I will write it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will by my people.”
Despite the circumstances that surrounded him, Jeremiah had a deep understanding of God’s presence in all that was going on. Jeremiah’s experiences can hardly be called positive ones. Like most of us, the prophet understood all too well the harshness of life. Of all of the prophets, we are most aware of his anguish. He mourns the reality of his fallen nation, and yet he knows that in the midst of all that God was still there. Yes, it was worth it.
God called Jeremiah to remind Judah of their Covenant. He reminded them of how God had carried them out of Egypt. How God had carved a path through the waters of trouble and into the Promised Land. Jeremiah knew that God was the God of love. God did not and would not turn away from Israel. Despite the horrible circumstances that he saw around him, Jeremiah knew that God was still there. This was such a striking contrast in view of the shattered nation. Yet the prophet’s reflection on the past gave him hope for the present, despite the harsh reality of the exile. It allowed him to make sense of the chaotic, unpredictable, and scary times that he was experiencing. It allowed him to look to the future with hope. Jeremiah remembered, that even in the ashes of Judah lay seeds of optimism. That while he was called to “uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow,” Jeremiah was also called “to build, and to plant.” Something new was going to happen.
Jeremiah’s reflection on his life is something that can help us when we look at our own. In the midst of the traumatic events of history, Jeremiah looked back and saw God present in all of it. Yet his feelings toward this were not universally positive, nor should they have been. Jeremiah’s anguish is apparent in many of his prophetic writings. Yet despite whatever grief he might have felt, Jeremiah also knew the hope and the joy of God’s love. He knew the promise of the covenant. He knew God’s presence and love. Despite the present circumstances, Jeremiah would still carry on with hope. His writings would later inspire generations of Israelites, those in exile, and those who would return and restore the land. His sense of hope in the face of such adversity would ring true for thousands of years after his death. The seeds had been planted, and the foundation had been laid.
For us, remembering our baptism is not unlike Jeremiah reflecting on his call. For the prophet, even standing in the midst of the rubble there was a profound sense of rightness. It did not come easily, or without a deep struggle with his faith. Jeremiah understood that God had been there all along, present with him, with Israel, with all of creation long before he realized his calling. In essence this future hope of God’s covenant being written upon our hearts was beginning to happen. Jeremiah sensed that he could not and never could have been anything other than a prophet. Similarly, baptism reminds us that all of us can not and never can be anything other than children of God.
Up until now, everything has been done to us or for us. God’s grace as expressed through the sacrament of baptism, like communion, is something we receive. We don’t deserve it, nor can we earn it. God writes love upon our hearts, and calls us to respond. Yet when faced with the call to live out our baptism —to be the children of God— we find it an uncomfortable thought. God could not possibly called me —I am too young. I am too old. I don’t have the resolve. I don’t have the strength. Please God, find somebody else —anybody else but me! Jeremiah also tried this too, look where it got him. After all was said and done, the prophet would not have it any other way.
Yet despite the all protests and our reluctance, the call of baptism does not go away. We are the children of God. It does not matter if we were sprinkled, splashed, dashed, or soaked. It does not matter when we were baptized. We are called to live as people redeemed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are called to live out our baptism by reflecting God’s inseparable love to everyone. We are called to be the children of God.
No one said this would be easy. Jeremiah knew that he alone did not have the strength, wisdom, or patience to rise to his prophetic role. He knew that despite all that he saw as against him, God was still there. This is also true for us. With the gift of baptism is the understanding of God’s loving presence, making us whole and working through us in ways we can barely fathom. While Jeremiah may not have understood baptism as we know it, his experience of God teaches us a powerful lesson. We remember God’s words to Jeremiah “do not be afraid... for I will be with you...” Despite our shortcomings, we are called to live out our baptism, to make it real. We are called to plant seeds of hope in the midst of despair. We are called to speak meaning to a generation who have none. We are called to reflect God’s presence, God’s love in Christ in all that we are.
It is something I hope that we are able to remember and reflect upon for our Anniversary as a congregation. Amen.
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