Sermon from April 14, 2024, by the Rev. Dr. Tara W. Bulger

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

I have been baptized more than once. Long before I was a Presbyterian, before I knew of our church’s teaching that only one baptism is needed, I was baptized twice. The first time was in a creek at my grandparents church when I was 8. The second time was in a friend’s church when I wasn’t much older.

I didn’t understand much about baptism. I was baptized the first time because I had been to my grandparents church, not often, but enough to know that to follow Jesus meant you needed to be baptized and that it was my ticket to heaven. Baptism meant that I was going to be good Christian girl who was saved and I don’t remember understanding it in any other way.

But the second time I was baptized I did it because I had found that following in the way of Christ wasn’t easy and, even at such a young age, I knew I had failed over and over again. I knew that I had lied, to cover for my mother and her drinking, and I knew that was wrong. I knew that I had stolen food before, when there was no food in our house and I was hungry, and I knew that was wrong too. I knew that a lot of the life I lived with my mama was not a good Christian life and so I came to that second baptism hoping that Jesus would forgive me and that maybe he could wash me clean again in baptism and I would be okay. I was hoping, that second time, that maybe the baptism would finally take and I would be good.

But you know how that story ends, right? I was both good and bad in my life and I missed so much thinking my baptisms were just about being saved and being good.

Our reformed tradition teaches us that baptism is many things, but it is primarily about what God does. Both of our sacraments, communion and baptism, are about what God has done and continues to do for us. Sacraments are gracious acts of God, by which Christ Jesus offers his life to us in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s Supper we remember the night Jesus was betrayed and his death and resurrection. But more than just remembering that gift is the assurance that Jesus will be with us—literally inside of us in the partaking of the bread and cup—and that he will continue to guide and strengthen us for this life. We respond to the gift of communion by, again, placing our lives before God in love and service. We respond to the gift of the sacrament of communion.

Baptism, in the same way, is about what Christ has done for us. In baptism we remember the baptism of Jesus, of his life and death for our behalf, and that Jesus has set us free from sin forever. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist, he did so to identify himself with all sinners—and God called him his beloved son—just as Jesus calls us each his beloved child. In baptism we are pardoned, cleansed, and renewed—-for all time. In baptism we are made a part of the church—if the body of Christ. All baptisms are done in the church community because just as we make promises to God, the church makes promises to help and guide us. Baptism is a sign that

God, in Christ Jesus, is with us and for us. Not because we are good, but because we are not. We are sinners in need of God’s grace.

Baptism always recognized the truth that God claims us before we are even able to respond in faith. When someone is old enough to be baptized on their own, it is the recognition that God has called them into relationship. Both of those situations demand a response, but make no mistake we are responding to what God has already done for us. That is the emphasis in any sacrament.

And no matter what we do after the baptism, our behavior doesn’t negate the work of the Spirit in our baptism. In baptism, we proclaim that God’s faithfulness is sure, even when our faithfulness is not. God’s grace is sufficent—no matter what you’ve done or left undone since your baptism—therefor we don’t need to repeat the baptism.

We will all sin and fall short of the glory of God. And in our church life of worship together there are times in our worship when we can remember our baptism and the promises we made in response to God’s goodness. Every time we profess our faith, or have a baptism, when people join the church, and when we ordain and install elders—those are all times when we reaffirm what God has done for us, and our response back to God. Communion, in particular, is a time for us to remember all God has done for us, and to respond again in the bread and the cup.

This church has been sustained by people who, for generations, have been baptized and sought to live out their lives as people of faith as best as they could. Each person did good things and sinful things but still yet, in the waters of their baptism, Christ claimed them and made them his own. And I look forward to the generations who will come after and will find the amazing grace offered in the water of the baptismal font.

For a long time I forgot all about my baptism and I did not believe in Christ or follow in his way. But there came a time when I felt called to this life of faith and so Brian and I joined a church. A presbtyerian church. And as we finished our new member classes the minister asked me if I had been baptized. And I said yes. And he told me that I would not have to be baptized again, because God had claimed me in my baptism, whether I was on board or not.

And I was relieved. Because I had grown and I could now look back over my life and see the hand of God in every part of it. Every time, I lied or stole or did the wrong thing, God was there, claiming me as God’s own and offering me love and grace. And every time I did something right or good, God was there, claiming me as God’s own and offering me love and grace. By the time I finally found my way to Jesus again, I knew, deep in my bones, that Jesus had always been there. My baptism was the surest sign of it. And though I had not been faithful, God was faithful still.

Thanks be to God for our baptisms—and for all those to come—for generations and generations.