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.