“An Old Rite & A New Reality” January 10, 2010

Isaiah 43:1-7 & Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Stephens City UMC

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I. While it probably doesn’t shock many of you to hear, one of my favorite books of all time rates a reading level of only 1.3 which means it was written for someone who is three months into the First Grade.

A. The entire text is comprised of a mere 50 words of which only one has more than one syllable and that is a two syllable word.

1. My beloved book was written to collect a $50 bet from publisher Bennett Cerf who did not believe the author could write a children’s book using only 50 words.

2. This friendly wage came following the great success of the author’s first book that employed the huge sum of 225 words.

3. And so to follow-up his classic book The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss penned these immortal words which were offered as a refusal to partake of an unusual meal:

I would not, could not, in a box.

I could not, would not, with a fox.

I will not eat them with a mouse.

I will not eat them in a house.

I will not eat them here or there.

I will not eat them anywhere.

I do not like green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

II. Now the matter that is before us today as we gather for this worship service is something of which I can say that:

I have done it in a pool.

I have done it with no tool.

I have done it in a river.

I have done it to deliver.

I have done it with a font.

I have done it more than I can count.

A. As you can tell I am no Dr. Seuss but I have not been called to author children’s books.

1. Rather part of my calling involves the proper administration of the sacraments one of which is Holy Baptism which I have administered in a river, in a swimming pool, in a baptismal pool, with a cup and with drops of water on my hand but particularly on this day my calling requires me to call on you to remember your baptism.

B. Baptism is really unchanged over the centuries.

1. It always involves water but that water can be from a free flowing stream or a lake.

2. It can be from a swimming pool or a specially built baptismal pool.

3. It can be from a font and it can be poured from a cup.

4. As long as you’ve got three drops of water for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit then you’ve got enough and where that water comes from is secondary.

5. What is primary is the grace that is bestowed at one’s baptism and the promises that God makes on that day.

6. At baptism God claims you as his even if your name is “Sam-I-am.”

7. And through this old rite God gets on with cleaning you up from sin and throughout your life God will never forsake that responsibility.

8. That is really good news for you because it makes possible for you a new reality.

9. You don’t have to stay in your sinful state.

10. Through the power of the water and the Spirit you are given a new beginning and in difficult times that is vital to remember because that’s a source of hope.

C. An illustration of what I’m talking about is found in the movie The Shawshank Redemption which is based on a novella by Stephen King.

1. The main character is a man named Andy who is incarcerated for more than 20 years in the Shawshank Prison in Maine for a crime he did not commit.

2. Secretly Andy chisels a passage way through the cell walls.

3. The passage dumps him out into the prison’s sewer system and he has to swim through those filthy waters in order to emerge a free man with a new life.

4. When he comes out of the water he leaves the past behind and exchanges his prison garb for a new set of clothes, his former name for a new one and his prison cell for a beautiful home on a beach in Mexico.

5. The waters through which he swims are his baptismal waters and the point that Stephen King is actually trying to make is to encourage us to remember our baptism and believe that an old rite can bring a new reality.

6. We begin to enter that new reality whenever we accept our struggles just like Andy had to struggle through the sewer waters, but it is through the struggle that we are born again.

7. And it is by the power of God that we are victorious in that struggle and come to that new life.

8. There are a lot of people struggling out there right now and it would mean a lot to God for the baptized to tell others the meaning and the hope they have because of their baptism.

III. Dr. Seuss concluded his book with the main character thanking Sam-I-am for his persistence for in the end he realizes that he does like green eggs and ham and would be glad to eat that meal in a box or with a fox, with a mouse or in a house.

A. Therefore, on this day rejoice in your baptism which is a blessing from our persistent God for God is always willing to clean you up even if your life has been in a sewer for God wants to bring you and others through all that to a new life.

1. So never forget that this old rite brings to you a new reality because you and your name are precious to God be your name “Sam-I-am” or “Cam-I-am” or “Pam-I-am” for that blessing has been promised you by the great “I am.”