Tears As Baptism

For the past year, 

I’ve been taking a course through the Lutheran Chruch to become certified as a lay preacher.

I’ve taken an Old Testament course, a New Testament course, and a theology course. 

I’m currently in a preaching course.

 

One of our assignments for the preaching course was to write a sermon for Bof our Lord Sunday on January 12, 2025.

I decided that instead of waiting until the last minute, I would go on and write the sermon.

I finished the sermon last week.

 

I enjoyed the process of studying and reading and preparing for the message.

I also enjoyed remembering my baptism.

 

Baptism is a complicated topic:

Infant versus believer’s baptism;

Sprinkling baptism versus baptism by immersion;

Still water versus running water;

John’s baptism versus Jesus‘s baptism--

Those are just a few of the things that I read about in the process of writing my sermon.

The scholarly articles debating the merits of each are vast and wide, 

So I finally had to stop reading and just write. 

 

One of the things that didn’t make it into the sermon but that made an impression on me

Was the idea of tears being a way of remembering our baptism.

Tears—

Those little drops of water that come when we are hurt, upset, angry, or sad.

Tears—

Those little drops of water that come when we’re overly happy or joyful.

Tears—

The natural expulsion of emotion.

Tears—

A catharsis of everything we hold inside.

Tears—

Water running down our faces,

Reminding us of our baptism:

Of being held in God’s arms,

As God’s beloved,

In whom God is well-pleased.

Tears—

Water running down our faces,

Reminding us of our baptism:

Of being saved from the mess of ourselves

And cleansed into the wholeness of Christ.

 

So the next time you cry,

For joy or sorrow or allergy,

Remember your baptism.

Remember your place in God’s Kingdom.

Remember what God has done for you through

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Remember that your faith is by grace alone,

And remember that,

Through it all,

You are God’s beloved,

In whom God is well-pleased.

Always.

 

Amen.

Common Courtesy

 

I went to Amelia The Niece’s choir concert on Friday night and watched something frustratingly funny happen. 

 

The concert was in a church sanctuary, so the audience was sitting on pews. 

My family and I were sitting about halfway back. 

 

Proper concert etiquette for a choral concert, 

or any non-rock band live music concert really, 

is to arrive on time, 

to sit quietly and listen, 

to only enter and exit during applause if you must leave for some reason, 

to turn your phone to silent, 

and not to film. 

Some performance programs specifically request that you do not film due to copyright infringement 

While other performance programs do not mention this request. 

But still, it’s courteous to the people behind you not to film during the concert. 

Holding your camera up obstructs people’s view and accidentally encourages people to look through your camera instead of at the actual performers. 

 

We just so happened to end up sitting three and four rows behind two different families who did not follow proper filming concert etiquette.

 

Each time their children sang,

They held up their phones and recorded the entire song.

 

What was frustratingly funny was that at the end of the concert, all groups sang together.

So both camera families needed to film.

The family on the third row up got annoyed with the family on the fourth row up and moved to the right so that their view would not be obstructed.

They then held up their camera and obstructed the view of the people newly behind them.

I couldn’t help but think of how inconsiderate that was,

To do the exact thing that was annoying them in the first place.

 

We live in a society that encourages us to put our own needs first. 

Maybe we should live counter-culturally 

And consider how we can be courteous to those around us while also taking care of our own needs.

 

In this instance:

Film a few seconds. 

Sit on the outside aisle so that your camera is not in the middle aisle.

Snap a picture during the applause.

Remember the performance in your brain rather than trying to keep everything on your phone.

How often do we go back and watch our videos anyway?

 

It’s little things, really,

That show courtesy:

Holding the door for the customer behind you,

Being ready to go through the ATM before you drive up to the machine,

Asking the person behind you if it’s OK to recline your seat a little on the plane,

Not singing along in the movie theater even though you really want to sing along.

 

May we be a people of courtesy that’s not so common anymore 

And may we not do to others the exact same things that annoy us. 

 

Amen. 

Breathe Out

 

On Monday, I wrote about showing up.

Today, I’m going to share a practice that I often employ

When showing up for those I love.

 

Whenever I sense that someone is struggling and

I want to help them,

I simply breathe in and breathe out,

Letting my breath be my prayer.

 

Only, it’s not so simple.

 

Upon breathing in,

I imagine sucking in the

Darkness, heartache, pain, loss, and hurt—

Taking it away from them and putting it inside of me.

 

Inside of me is Jesus,

Who then takes the

Darkness, heartache, pain, loss, and hurt

And transforms it into

Light, love, strength, happiness, peace, and everything good.

 

I do this over and over,

Breathing in the dark, stank air,

Breathing out the light, fresh air.

Breathing in what I want to take from those I love,

Breathing out what I want to give to them in return.

 

I don’t know if it “works.”

I don’t have any scientific evidence saying that it does or does not.

All I know is that it “works” for me,

And it helps me sit in the midst of darkness, heartache, pain, loss, and hurt

And not be consumed by it all.

 

Is showing up always easy?

No.

Is breathing in darkness always easy?

No.

Sometimes it hurts.

But Jesus is there.

In my heart.

Working to hold it,

Working to purify it,

Working to transform it,

Working to do what I cannot,

And leaving me to do what I can:

Send out light, love, strength, happiness, peace, and everything good.

 

Regardless of whether this practice works for you,

I encourage you to find something that grounds you

And connects you to your breath, to others, and the

very Breath of Life.

 

Remember:

There is a lot we cannot do in this world.

There is a lot we cannot afford to give.

But just as surely as the sun rises and sets each day,

We can show up for one another.

And we can breathe.

 

Amen.

Show Up

 

I wrote Heidi the Librarian on Saturday and asked what she was doing.

She sent me a bunch of pictures and said, “My M.”

M is one of our students.

I said, “What is M doing?”

She sent another picture of M in a fancy dress.

I said, “I know it’s a pageant. For what?”

She said, “I’m not sure what the title would be.”

I laughed and said, “You’re at an unknown pageant?”

She said, “Yes. It’s just M’s pageant that she might not win.

She had steep competition in her division.”

I laughed again.

Heidi said, “It lasted two hours then there was a 30-minute intermission.

I saw M and hugged her and left.”

A few minutes later,

Heidi wrote me back with the name of the pageant.

“Enchanted Sweetheart Christmas,” she said.

“I asked 😊.”

 

In review:

Heidi spent two hours of her Thanksgiving break

Watching an unknown pageant

Because a student asked her to go,

And she did.

 

Friends:

There is a lot we cannot do in this world.

There is a lot we cannot afford to give.

But just as surely as the sun rises and sets each day,

We can show up for one another when someone asks,

Or show up for one another when need cannot be muttered.

In times of celebration,

In times of grief,

In times of goodness,

In times of sadness,

In times when words flow freely,

In times when words get stuck in throats,

In times when waiting is easy,

In times when waiting is hard.

We can show up.

And sit.

And endure a two-hour pageant

For a 10 second hug that was

Probably the highlight the entire day.

 

In this Advent Season,

May we be a people who show up,

Sometimes not even knowing what we’re getting into,

Simply because we can and

Because we love and

Because the Christ-child showed up for us.

 

Amen.