Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Galatians 3:23-29
Matthew 28:16-28

Grace to you and Peace from God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I don't know about you, but I have had a lot of questions lately when watching the news. When you saw the question mark on the bulletin today, perhaps there were many questions that came to your mind as well--questions like how in the world our country has gotten into such a financial mess, how will this and the upcoming elections affect our country and perhaps the world's future, or perhaps how will you ever be able to get out of the debt you are in right now. These may be questions causing you great anxiety at the moment. Many of you have shared your stories with me about how the past few weeks have affected you.

Over the next three Sundays, however, we are looking at some deeper questions that impact our immediate fears of today. We will be focusing on the roots of our faith and how we experience God's presence in the world. Today we will specifically look at baptism and what it means to be baptized. This is the question we need to continually ask and be reminded of, and that is: To whom do we belong and from where does our true security and hope come? These are the questions that help us put our immediate fears into God's perspective.

In Martin Luther's Small Catechism when looking at the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, he asks: "How can water do such great things?" That is a good question. Luther responds by saying that it is not the water that does such great things, but the Word of God and faith, which trusts this Word of God in the water.

Almost all religions have some kind of water ritual. In Islam, Muslims use water to cleanse themselves in preparation for their daily prayers. In Judaism, The mikvah, or immersion in a ''gathering of water," is a traditional practice, and is also gaining popularity with less-traditional followers to mark various rites of passage. Hindus also use water to cleanse themselves before prayer and they believe that water from the River Ganges in India is sacred, and that bathing in the river washes away sins.

Christians, however, are the only ones who are marked in the process of our bathing water ritual. We are washed in the baptismal waters so we can take on a new identity. Our identity is shaped by the sign of the cross on our forehead. Each of us has been marked with sign of cross in baptism, but I wonder if we really know what that means? Do we really know what significance that has for all of the questions we wrestle with? Do we fully understand the meaning the sign of the cross has for our daily lives?

In baptism we take on the seal, the marking, and the sign that marks us for life: the sign of the cross. With that cross marked on our forehead the words are said: "You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." Romans 6:5 tells us the promise we receive with that cross in baptism: "For if we have been united with Jesus in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." The reality that comes with our cross-shaped baptismal identity is that death is not the last word. Hopelessness is not the last word. Despair is not the last word. Fear is not the last word. Guilt is not the last word. Jesus' resurrection and new life always have the last word.

When we die with Christ in baptism we are stripped of those things which pull for priority in our lives--worries, anxieties, fears, guilt. We are stripped of those things that do not define our identity, so that we can claim our new life as a beloved hope-filled, forgiven child of God. When we rise with Christ each and every day as we remember our baptism, God opens our arms and extends them to others in need. Being sealed with the mark of the cross, we believe God is working through us to open our arms outward showing Christ's love to the world.

This past week I met with a Pilates instructor for the first time. The premise behind most of the exercises is that you position your shoulders and spine in the correct way-the way they were intended--so that your muscles can work more efficiently and support your posture better. I learned very quickly in that session that I will really have to retrain my muscles to hold my shoulders where they should be. It was really tough to try and keep my shoulders back and open as I was trying to move my arms around. The instructor promised me that after some retraining, it would feel much more natural.

So in that session, as I was holding my shoulders back, trying to push my arms down as far as I could, and feeling brand new lat muscles throbbing in pain, I thought about how trusting in God's Word and baptismal promises is quite similar. We have to be retrained to trust in the promises God has made to us in baptism. It feels really uncomfortable at first, especially when we live our lives being turned in on ourselves and trusting only in ourselves. It feels more natural and easy to be turned in on ourselves and cynical about what is to come in our lives. It is much tougher to trust that the promises God has made are trustworthy. Little by little though as we remember the cross-shaped identity we bear, we are enabled to open our lives to the love God intended for each one of us and trust the promise made in our gospel where Jesus sends his disciples out and says: "And remember, I am with you always".

There is a story that comes out of the 1989 earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. The deadly tremor killed over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the earthquake, a father rushed to his son's school. When he arrived there he discovered the building was flat as a pancake.

Standing there looking at what was left of the school, the father remembered a promise he made to his son, "No matter what, I'll always be there for you!" Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation, but he could not take his mind off his promise.
Remembering that his son's classroom was in the back right corner of the building, the father rushed there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: "My son! "My daughter!" They tried to pull him off of what was left of the school saying: "It's too late!" "They're dead!" "You can't help!" "Go home!" Even a police officer and a fire-fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who tried to stop him he said, "Are you going to help me now?"
They did not answer him and he continued digging for his son stone by stone. He needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" This man dug for eight hours and then twelve and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally in the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son's voice. He screamed his son's name, "ARMAND!" and a voice answered him, "Dad?" It's me Dad!" Then the boy added these priceless words, "I told the other kids not to worry. I told 'em that if you were alive, you'd save me and when you saved me, they'd be saved. You promised that, Dad. 'No matter what,' you said, 'I'll always be there for you!' And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!" (Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, "Chicken Soup for the Soul.")

God has kept God's promises and has worked through all kinds of barriers to save God's people throughout history...sometimes reaching past the barrier of water and sometimes reaching past the barrier of death using an instrument of torture and transforming it into a symbol of hope and new life. We recount some of the ways God has kept promises every time we baptize someone. God continues to work through the water of our baptism each and every day leading us from death into new life, from hopelessness to hope, from fear into joy, and from guilt into forgiveness. Our baptism and remembrance of our baptismal identity keep the hope of Christ's resurrection at the forefront and center of our lives. And Jesus continues to reach past all the barriers we put up while asking us if we are going to help him remove the barriers preventing others from full life.

Today at each of the worship services, confirmands and their parents will come forward for the Service of the Cross at the baptismal font. Each confirmand will receive a cross necklace from their parents and will respond to their parents: "Thank you for keeping your promises". Each student will wear this cross during the next two weeks before they promise to continue in the covenant God made with each one of them in Holy Baptism. In other words, when they affirm their baptisms, they will be promising to continue to believe that no matter what, God will be there for them and that they can trust that God will keep God's promises.

Trusting in God's promises, however, takes training. Each student has been through a preliminary training program-also known as confirmation-where they have connected or lived among God's faithful people, where they have worshiped and heard God's word and shared in the Lord's Supper, where they have grown in their faith so they could proclaim the good news of God in Christ through what they say and do. They have also trained by serving one another following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and reaching out beyond the walls of Bethlehem which in some way worked for justice and peace among all peoples. These are the ways that they and each one of us can continue to be strengthened in our faith and trust in the promises that God has made. We can then share that hope and forgiveness with all those we meet.

If you are having a hard time trusting God's presence in your life right now, there are two opportunities you could jump into this week: the first one is a Bible Study beginning Monday night or Wednesday mornings. The second is a study entitled "It All Goes Back in the Box" beginning this Wednesday. These are great ways to connect and grow in your faith and retrain yourself to trust in God. Another way to remind yourself to trust God is to begin each day with arms stretched outward saying: "I am a beloved child of God and my hope comes from Christ." Or when taking a bath or shower in the morning, make a sign of the cross on your forehead to remind you of your baptismal identity.

These are just a few ways that you can be fed so that you can live out your baptismal identity in your daily life. When gripped with fear and anxiety in our daily lives our reactions get us into danger. When gripped with hope and trust in Christ Jesus, however, nothing is impossible. People of hope respond with love and are lead by Christ's love that permeates everything they do. The sign of the cross on each of our foreheads reminds us how Jesus' resurrection has changed our world forever: You, beloved child of God, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Now go live out that identity. Thanks be to God. Amen.