Genesis 1:1-5; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1: 4-11; Psalm 29
January 10, 2021
Larry Campbell
Baptism
May the words of my mouths and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
Over the past several years we’ve heard some pretty amazing homilies on the topic of Baptism. Today, I’m going to take a look at Baptism as a symbol… a symbol that I hope we will see as essential to us, as a group, for our identity, and maybe to see baptism as a gift given to us, to provide us with a sense of cohesion. I don’t just see this as vital for us as Grain Of Wheat Church Community, but for the whole Christian church around the world.
Symbols are powerful things. Madison Avenue knows all about this. In the last 75 to 100 years, advertising has become ubiquitous, it appears in virtually every part of our lives.
I remember when movies started to connect their characters with coke cans, and drink cups, and burger bags with little toy R2D2’s inside. I remember when “product placement” became a thing.
- Everything from the “Coke” and “Pepsi” cups on the judges’ table at televised talent shows,
- to every vehicle in a TV drama having the same recognizable logo. Everyone knows the Chevy logo… Dodge, Ford, Toyota, Hundai, Neesan… they all have their own recognizable symbols.
- All the sporting teams from highschools to the pros have symbols, logos, and mascots to draw fans together in a shared identity. A stranger wearing a sweatshirt with your favourite team’s logo is no longer a stranger.
- And if you still doubt the power of symbol, I would refer you to your own children, who very likely knew that the Golden Arches meant McDonald’s, long before they knew what the letter “M” was.
Why is it, do you think, that symbols have such an impact on us? Clifford Geertz is considered ‘one of the most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States”. He has given shape to the practice of symbolic anthropology. In his essay “Ethos, Worldview, and the Analysis of Sacred Symbols”, he wrote,
“the drive to make sense out of experience, to give it form and order,
is evidently as real and pressing as the more familiar biological needs.”
Geertz is saying that our need, as a species, to make sense out of our sometimes spectacular, sometimes mundane lives is as much a natural drive as our need for food, or shelter, or sex.
This is why every culture we can think of has some sort of story about their beginnings, and how they became a society. And it seems every religion is associated with some sort of symbol… the Buddhist Wheel of Dharma, the Judaic Star of David, the Islamic Star and Crescent, the Taoist Yin and Yang, the Aboriginal Medicine Wheel, and, of course, the Christian Cross. Most of these religious traditions have more than one spiritual symbol. There are billions of people around the world drawn together under these symbols. For many, family, community, and culture are defined, and lives are determined, by the symbols of faith.
For Christians, the Cross, the Eucharist, and Baptism are symbols that have formed us from the beginning.
- The Cross is a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ. That crucifixion, itself, is a symbol of self-sacrifice, surrender and love.
- The Eucharist, or communion, is a symbol of community, drawing us around the table. As the bread is broken, it is an image of the body of Christ, broken for us. The wine represents the blood shed for the whole world.
- The act of Baptism is a picture of obedience and surrender; it typifies our death, mingled with the death of Jesus, and then being raised up, from the dead, with Christ. And whether we have water poured over our heads, or are completely swept under, the use of clean, refreshing, life-giving water, as a symbol of purification, is a beautiful thing.
There is a danger, however.
We live in a time when we don’t recognize the presence of God in all we see and do.
We live in a time when our desire for relevance often supersedes our understanding of the value of our iconic symbols.
For the church, these three symbols – the Cross, the Eucharist, and Baptism – have given us an identity.
- We are a people of self-sacrificing love.
- We are nourished and encouraged by the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
- We identify with His resurrection, being, ourselves, raised to newness of life.
- We are a people of reconciliation, and devotion.
God has wisely and lovingly given us these symbols, so that we would have an identity and a sense of belonging. And they have given us a place to live for two thousand years.
When I was baptised, I had no idea what I was doing. I’m sure when most people get baptised, they don’t understand the full significance of what’s happening. I envy those that do. Although every baptism we witness gives us another opportunity to revisit our own baptism, I have often wondered about renewing my own baptismal vows in an intentional way.
I think baptism is one of the symbols of our faith and a gift of our God to hold us together as a people of faith. Let us re-consider the importance and value of Baptism in our lives and in our church.