SPECIAL DAYS: Ash Wednesday

LESSONS: Genesis 9.18-22; 1 Peter 3.18-22; Mark 1.9-15, NRSV

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1. The family wanted their son (Call him David [that's my brother's name]) to be baptized by immersion.
1. Arrangements were made to have the baptism at a Baptist Church
2. We arrived at the church only to find the doors locked.
1. The pastor was not at home.
2. We waited on this cold February afternoon for the pastor to return.
3. He had forgotten about the baptism.
1. He opened the church.
2. Began to fill the baptismal font.
3. Then he informed me that the heater was not working.
4. I could only imagine the temperature of the water.
4. David and I changed into our baptismal clothes.
1. He was wearing only his underwear and a thin white robe.
2. I, having done this before, had an old pair of pants, a shirt, and an old black robe.
5. I do not now if you have ever seen a baptism by immersion.
1. The water ought to be about 3½ feet deep.
2. In this case it was about a foot shy.
3. It ought to be warm.
4. In this case it was ground temperature.
6. I told David that we would simply do it.
7. I walked down into the water and it was so cold that it almost took your breath away.
8. David followed.
9. There are a few simple questions that are asked.
1. Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
2. Do you desire to be baptized in the name of the trinity.
3. Do you commit yourself to follow the way of our Savior.
10. Then you hold a handkerchief over the nose of the person, take hold of the back of the robe and fully immerse the individual in the water.
11. Because the water was so shallow, David's face was showing.
1. I said sorry and pushed him down under the water.
2. He came up shivering.
12. To close the baptismal ceremony I held my hand up in the air and pronounced a blessing and a benediction.
1. Later I was talking with David's grandfather about the baptism and suggesting that in spite of circumstances it went well.
2. He agreed but noted that my had was vibrating.

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MAIN BODY:

1. Baptism is a Holy Bath.
1. It is a bath that is not to remove the accumulated dirt of work.
2. It is a bath to remove the accumulated dirt of sin.
1. Paul, in Romans 6.3-13, writes about baptism in this way.
1. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
2. [4] Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
3. [5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
4. [6] We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
5. [7] For whoever has died is freed from sin.
6. [8] But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
7. [9] We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
8. [10] The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
9. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
10. [12] Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
11. [13] No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness, (Romans 6:3-13, NRSV).
2. In Titus 3.5 it is made clear God "saved us,
1. not because of any works of righteousness that we had done,
1. but according to his mercy,
2. through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5, NRSV).
2. The water of rebirth is the water of baptism.
3. And at the time of baptism we receive the potential for renewal through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
2. Baptism leads us into a "moist faith."
1. What would you do if God came to you and asked you to build an ark?
1. In our modern world this appears foolish.
2. We would probably laugh at the absurdity of it.
2. The writer of Hebrews is emphatic when he says:
1. And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him Hebrews 11:6, NRSV).
3. The writer also list people of faith and among them is Noah.
1. [7] By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith Hebrews 11:7, NRSV).
4. By faith Noah.
1. In the midst of the absurdity, It is by faith Noah.
2. In the midst of doubt, It is by faith Noah.
3. In the midst of opposition, It is by faith Noah.

CONCLUSION:

1. One Sunday morning Kel Groseclose⁽¹⁾ was baptizing a two-year-old and his mother.
1. "The child was worried about what he was going to do with that water.
2. "So before sprinkling him, he let him briefly play with it.
3. "He then willingly received his baptism.
4. "Next his mother knelt beside the font.
1. "Before Rev. Groseclose could put his hand into the bowl, the child leaned from his father's arms; dipped his small hand into the water;
2. "and very gently, sweetly, baptized the top of his mother's head.
5. "Joy and happy laughter filled the sanctuary.
6. "His own triune application of water seemed almost redundant.
7. "Truly her baptism was of love and the Spirit.
8. "So also may our journey of faith be throughout this season of Lent."

1. Kel Groseclose, Tidings of Hope, Copyright © 1999 Abingdon Press, p. 4 (used with permission)

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