Transfromation - Day 10

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead." - Colossians 2:11-12

Paul, a Messianic Jew, is writing to Gentiles.  There was intense pressure on these Gentiles to be circumcised - to enter into the Hebrew Covenant before entering into the New Covenant (Grace Covenant - This is my blood of the New Covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins - Jesus).

Paul is assuring them that physical circumcision is not needed when Christ performed a "spiritual circumcision" on their hearts.  But Paul is saying this in a more than symbolic manner - Jesus has also cut their sinful nature away.

The language that follows about baptism points to two issues that have been highly contentious in the church - immersion/believers baptism and whether baptism is sacramental or merely an ordinance.

Let's start with the first.  This passage is one of the stronger passages that points towards baptism being an immersion experience.  How can one be "raised" unless they were under the water?  The symbol here is definitely more than cleansing from pouring.  So the baptists would say "aha - I told you so!"

But the second element is just as critical.  First you must understand the difference between an ordinance and a sacrament.  An ordinance is in essence an outward demonstration/ritual of obedience to Christ (click on the link to read more.)  A sacrament is a ritual that contains a mystery - that in some way God imparts grace to the participant - a sacre(d mo)ment (ditto the link to read more).  While the baptists can point to this text supporting immersion baptism, Paul also writes that this is more than a symbolic act. "you were raised to new life" implies that baptism conveys some measure of grace - a sacred mystery.

At this point, you may be asking what I believe.  Well first of all, this blog isn't the place to delve into such a huge topic in which books have been written.  Let's start here.  I am in covenant with the United Methodist Church that embraces both infant and believers baptism, that believes baptism is a sacrament and not an ordinance (as do I), and also gives latitude for both infant dedication and baptism (although they push for the latter).

I don't want to open up the whole can of worms on whether your infant baptism is valid.  I do know this -  God's grace works in bigger ways than whether we were baptized as a baby or whether we were sprinkled or immersed.  There was a thug on a cross who received unconditional pardon from Jesus without having to be baptized.  Perhaps just like the Colossians, you feel pressured by others to be baptized as an adult because your "infant baptism didn't count."  Later in this letter, you'll see that Paul continues to tell the Colossians not to get caught up in legalism and externals.  Jesus wants to circumcise your heart, cut away the sinful nature. This is the ESSENTIAL part.

remember your baptism

we celebrated new members joining our church yesterday. it was a great day - Pentecost - the birthday of the Church (another topic). during the celebration, i invite these almost-new-members to come forward and to "remember your baptism and be thankful." i also offer a caveat as these folk are invited forward - "do whatever it takes for you to remember your baptism - you can simply look at the water, or touch the water, or mark yourself with the water and if you need to - you can even dump this whole bowl of water on your head if that's what you need to remember."


so new folk came forward and gazed into a baptismal font - a basin filled with sacred (set apart) water - to reflect on how God has brought them to this point. some were baptized as children/infants and really can't remember their own baptism, others came forward baptized as adults and do remember that moment. some simply look. some take the water and splash their faces. yesterday was a first - a young expectant mother raised her blouse and "baptized" her protruding tummy. the moment is always significant and often deeply moving because these persons see the hand of God now at work in them, even before they were aware of it. yesterday was one of those days - deep reflection. deep thankfulness, deep joy. (as pastor, i have the best "seat" in the house for noticing these things.)

last of all was Karen. Karen was someone who i met in December at our soup kitchen Christmas dinner. (wonderful servants in our church put on a banquet for the less fortunate in our community, complete with great food and even a visit from Santa - it's the annual highlight of our soup kitchen ministry.) so someone introduced me to Karen. i listened to her story - no job, lost her daughter years ago in an automobile accident. she was deeply wounded. there was deep sadness and pain in her eyes. i invited her to church, to meet God in worship. she said she would come but the skeptic in me thought "how many times have i heard that before?"

but Karen did come and she heard a message on peace. then amazingly she came back the next week and heard a message on love (it was Advent). and when Karen came up to me after the service, there were tears in her eyes. God was at work, healing a broken soul. Karen kept coming - more faithfully than most of our members. she connected into a small group of women who were also working their way through healing of damaged emotions. she started mowing the church's lawn - a way she could give back since she didn't have anything to put in the offering basket. someone in the church offered her a job to get back on her feet. she came to a new members prep class then came to see me - she said she felt guilty because she felt to good - so at peace, so much joy. she couldn't stop smiling. nine years weighted down by anger were gone. a few weeks later when a couple came to worship to share about their vision for us joining with them in partnership to build a health clinic in Munyarari Zimbabwe, Karen felt the call of God to go to Africa.

all this leading up to yesterday - the day she was joining our church. as i remarked about taking the whole bowl and dumping it on your head, Karen, sitting in the front with a big smile, with all her misfit small group friends, let me know in no uncertain terms that this was her plan. (that's why i invited her last!)

so Karen came forward, her back to the congregation, a huge smile on her face. "Karen, remember your baptism and be thankful." she looked at the water, hesitated, maybe because there was more water in that basin than she realized, then in words that thankfully no one else could hear said, "oh what the f***," picked up the bowl and dumped a gallon or so of water on her head and across the floor! sopping wet she stood there with a great big smile on her face and a cheering congregation behind her.

and i'm just smiling and thinking - what a great way to end my ministry at my current church. this is a treasure i will never forget.  dismiss the language and look at Karen's heart.

soon i'll be moving to Abingdon, Maryland to plant a church. my dream is to connect the Karens of this world with the God who loves them. yesterday i got a foreshadow of what is to come. God is smiling and so am i.