The Baptism of Our Lord, Yr B
January 11, 2009
G. Hendree Harrison, Jr.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church

SWIMMING TO CHURCH

If we were deeply invested in spiritual symbolism, I mean, if we were really, really into symbolic gestures as a part of our faith walk, much more so than we are now, and we Episcopalians place a pretty heavy emphasis on symbols, I mean, if we were wildly symbolic folks…we would swim to church.

We would swim to church so that every time we entered the Sunday morning worship space, we would have a very tangible, sopping wet reminder of our baptisms, which were, of course, the doorway through which we entered this Christian journey.

Our set-up here at St. Paul’s is actually well suited to swimming to church. I mean, we’re half-surrounded by a creek. We could park across the creek somewhere in downtown. Maybe we could park on the green space where the old Athens Supply was, cross the street, then swim across the creek as a distinct reminder of our baptisms, and then crawl up the bank and come to church. The ushers could hand out towels with the bulletins.

You might be tempted to wade across the creek, but if you really want to immerse yourself in the symbolism, then you need to go all the way under the water.

If you can’t swim or can’t hold your breath, no problem, we could have a couple of acolytes with a five gallon bucket of water to douse you from head to toe at the front door.

However, we did it we’d need to get really wet before entering the church to remind us, as I said, of the watery experience of our baptisms.

Of course, not many people would go for that, swimming to church. It would be messy, and the pews would probably start to rot what with being sat in by soaking wet worshippers Sunday after Sunday.

But never fear, since we probably shouldn’t swim to service, the church has developed a more reserved, perhaps more elegant (dignified) custom. It is as follows -
In many worship spaces the baptismal font is placed at the entryway to the worship space. That way when we enter we at least have to walk past the font, which will remind us of our connection to God through our baptismal covenant.

Some parishes take that piece of symbolism a bit farther and have the font filled with holy water so that worshippers can dip their fingers in the water as they pass the font and then lightly trace the sign of the cross on their own foreheads as a damp and physical remembrance of our baptisms.

One might even rightly imagine that she is retracing the cross that the priest made years ago in her actual baptismal moment.

So, all of this foolishness and water begs a question, “Why?” Why do we need to recall, remember, and muse on our baptisms? Well, if we care anything about who and whose we are, then we must consider our baptisms.

Our baptisms mark or identify us as two things: One, as Christian, and two, as belonging to God.

It’s all too easy to have our identity stolen, or distorted, and to become confused about who we are.

My best friends from seminary were a group of guys from Texas. We ran thick. We did everything together. One of the Texas guys is a big University of Texas fan. He is a Longhorn through and through.

I am my father’s son, so I am betrothed by some deep obligation to root for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Well, as both a bit of ribbing and a token of friendship my Longhorn friend gave me a Texas ball cap. He gave it to me, and I said, “Oh man a longhorns hat?! Scott, my dad will kill me if he sees this.” But I put it on, and it fit perfectly, not all hats fit just right, you know.

“Whatever, I’ll wear it.”

So that’s how a guy from Georgia started wearing a Texas hat. I wore it to and from class all the time and didn’t think much of it, most of the time I didn’t think about it at all, just another hat.

Well, on the first day of a new semester, I walked into class with that hat on and I walked to my usual seat in the classroom. There was a new student, a middle age woman, sitting in the desk in front of mine. She watched me as I came in the room. As I got closer to her she put her hand up in the air as if to wave, only she had her hand balled into a fist with her pointer and her pinky fingers extended. And she turned her hand side to side and smiled.

My first thought was, “What in the world is she doing? They are letting all kinds of people into this seminary now.” Then I thought, “Why is she giving me the rock ‘n’ roll sign?” strange, but….

I sat down and she said, “Hook ‘em Horns!”
I said, “wha…? oh!”
I took the hat off and looked at it. “Yeah,” I said, “a friend gave me this hat. I’m from Georgia.”

To be honest, I’d probably forgotten I even had that hat on. I had been wearing it for a while and certainly didn’t think a thing about the Longhorns. But she saw me with that Texas brand over my forehead and she immediately assumed a context for me, identified me as a Univ. of Texas football fan, flashed the symbol, proclaimed the slogan, the whole bit….

And rightly so, I was wearing the symbol. What I mean to say is - It is easy to get innocently mixed up about identity, which is why it is so important, maybe even vital for we Christian folk to visit and consider our baptisms.

We are marked in our baptisms as Christ’s own forever. We are branded like cattle (longhorns even!) with holy oil traced on our foreheads in the sign of the cross, which means that no matter what, forever and ever amen – we belong to God.

And this is good.

Good, because the world would have us line up to be branded by a million things other than Christian.

I’m a UT fan.
I’m a democrat.
I’m a republican.
I’m a Ford man.
My heart belongs to the South.
I’m pro-union.
I’m pro-life.
I belong to Kiwanis.
I belong to Optimist.
I belong to this and that and the other…. The list goes on and on and on.
But we are actually NONE of those things.

We Christians don’t belong to ANY of those things. We ARE Christian. And we belong, well, we belong – to God.

Now, I’m not saying all those other associations are all bad. Some good surely comes from some of our associations, some bad, and some indifferent, but belonging to God? Being involved with and owned by God? Being identified as Christian? Now, this means being engaged in a journey to, for, and towards Love. And there is no identity or association richer, deeper, more graceful, more salvific and full of promise.

Baptism is the entrance into that love soaked journey. And so it seems like a pretty good idea to dwell on our baptisms, at least from time to time.

So, what I want to do this morning is something a little bit different from what we’re used to…. I want us to go outside and go down to the creek…. No, I’m kidding.

We’re going to bless the water in the baptismal font. And then we’re going to renew our baptismal covenants. And then as you come up for communion I want to invite you to at least look at the font and the water.

If you feel so moved consider as you look, your own baptism, and maybe think about what it means for you to belong to God. And if you’re feeling really loose and wild I hope you’ll feel welcome to touch the water as you pass.
And then if you’re a nut, like me, I want you to feel most welcome to touch the tips of your wet fingers to your forehead, and then maybe even trace the sign of the cross.
Forget all your other associations and think on just one, the most important one - your baptism, which is the way you know, however many years ago, that we all first swam to church…