Today the church celebrates the baptism of Jesus, and calls those of us who are baptized to remember our own. It calls those not yet baptized to consider it, and it reminds all of us of what baptism means. In churches large and small; whether they call their worship space a sanctuary, a worship center, a chapel, or God’s arena; whether by sprinkling, or pouring, or full immersion – all the way wet, as I describe it; baptism, along with communion are the two rituals common to Christians everywhere.

Baptism is the means by which we declare publicly what we have said to ourselves and to God: we are bound inextricably to God through Jesus Christ and each other. The Disciples Affirmation of Faith declares, “through baptism into Christ, we enter into newness of life and are made one with the whole people of God” (Chalice Hymnal, #355). The Protestant reformer Martin Luther used to say to himself, “always remember Martin, you are baptized”. He wrote of his baptism and of ours, words that are found in our hymnal, “we must hold boldly and fearlessly to our baptism, and hold it up against all sins and terrors of conscience and humbly say, ‘I know full well that I have not a single work which is pure, but I am baptized, and through my baptism God, who cannot lie, has bound [God’s self] in a covenant with me, not to count my sin against me, but to slay it, to blot it out’” (Chalice Hymnal, #370).

It was in 1962, my sister and I waited in the little hallway between the dressing rooms and the baptismal pool. The pastor, the late Enoch Henry, was standing in the baptismal pool, his hand outstretched ready for us to take our turn entering the pool. The choir and congregation were singing a baptismal hymn whose imagery is a little graphic for us today: “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged, beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains” (“There Is A Fountain” by William Cowper in the African American Heritage Hymnal, 275).

I am so glad that Charlie and the elders now lead us on our baptism days in singing, “Wade in the Water” and “Take Me to the Water”. Still the hymn of my baptism reminds me often that through baptism, I am bound to something bigger than me that binds me to other followers of Jesus Christ, and it has made me new.

As we are made new in baptism, we embrace the newness of God created in a new generation of servants. In Matthew, Jesus gives us a new understanding of who the Messiah is and will be. We know that Jesus has to convince John to baptize him. John believes Jesus has no need for baptism, and John is correct. There is no sin to be forgiven, no disgraceful, destructive behavior from which to repent, nothing old and corroded to wash away. But there is this desire in Jesus, the Christ, the Savior, to show humanity from that moment to this one, how it is that people who discover their love and gratitude for salvation in Jesus’ name can symbolize their voluntary servanthood in Christ. Guided by the Spirit, he is God’s servant showing us how to begin the process of being imitators of his and servant of his.

We are bound to God and Jesus Christ through our baptism which calls us to be God’s servants in this place and beyond this place. You know that; that is why so many of you volunteer your time in this church and in your communities in hospitals, with scouts, and as tutors and mentors. You are serving God as you serve the community, and may Jesus Christ be praised for your service.

The last verse of “There is a Fountain” says, “E’er since by faith, I saw the stream, thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die”. When we are bound by baptism, we begin to live out the values we’ve identified – values of spirituality, love, and friendship. When we live as servants of God, I believe God is delighted, our spirits are lifted, love and justice are accomplished and relationships are strengthened.

So we go about the work of our ministry in this place, as only we can; and we tell the story of the ministry as only we can. Only we can tell the story of Broad Street Christian Church with integrity and fullness because we have lived this story. Only we can face our fear of loss and our need for more people and more money and do what we need to do to achieve those ends. Only we know what God has done for us, what we want God to keep on doing, and what we want God to help us let go so we can do a new thing. We heard last week as Roz, Ellen, and Peggy spoke so eloquently to us that we as a congregation have some work to do.

Indeed we will celebrate what Peggy calls our “historical roots of diversity”, but we cannot rest there. We must indeed be the people – open, welcoming, accepting – that we tell people we are. As we go on, we must claim our story and as Ellen said, “shout our story above the noise of misinformation about Christians”. My favorite line from the movie, “Driving Miss Daisy” comes when the title character says, “I know what I know, and I know what else I know”. We know that the church has been a safe place for us, and we know that it has been a hurtful place to others, we want it to be a healing place for all.

We know that we are a nation divided into so-called blue states and red states and we know that if the church lives out those same divisions, we are a people most to be pitied. We also know that strong family values, however your family is structured, and problems in your family, no matter how you present yourselves outside your homes, and believing that God has a prominent place in your household are matters of faith, not of political party affiliation.

We know that we can celebrate a wonderful past. And we know that we can look forward with hope and joy to an unseen but even more glorious future that God is leading us to claim. I know of too many congregations in this city and around the country that were as challenged as we are, some more so. But the people got together, they prayed and studied, talked and worked, gave their money and their time, sometimes sacrificially, and they have prospered, they have done what they believed God was calling them to do, they are looking forward to the next thing God will have them do, they have presented themselves, realizing their stark reality and their great hope. That’s what I want us to claim in this place.

As we are more excited about our future than we are anxious about it, as we hear what is positive and refuse to believe uncritically every prediction of doom; and giving in to those predictions will indeed doom us, we will be free to tell the good news of Jesus Christ.

And as we go on, as we as we do before we do anything else, what Roz had us do last week, as we lift our hands in prayer and allow ourselves to be saturated with the blessings of the Holy Spirit, God will bless us.

There is nothing we can do about the past and the grace of God is that we don’t have to go back to it. But God has called us into a new day, and has taken us by the hand, given us a covenant, and called us into a new time. In the verses immediately after the reading in Isaiah, God tells us about the newness.

A new song will be sung; the seas will roar, not in a deadly tsunami, but in praise to the living God; all creation shouts with joy and gives glory to God (Isaiah 42. 10-12).

Our sign of newness is in our baptism that says that we are so bound up with God that even when we feel bruised by life, even when circumstances leave us feeling broken, there are healing waters. We are bathed in the love of God, called by name as sons and daughters of God, beloved by God, belonging to God and to each other, we are blessed by God.

And because we are baptized and blessed we have an obligation to hope, it is what Barack Obama calls the “audacity of hope” that leads us to active service and commitment. It also leads us to a vision born of our core values. You will hear more detail in my remarks in the congregational meeting, but here is my vision for what we can do to grow this congregation in hope and faithfulness.

Based on the core value of spirituality, we can lead seekers to find what we have found, a transforming relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Studies show that people who are looking, or who are attracted to a congregation will join one that helps them to grow spiritually and that helps them become involved in active outreach ministries that make a difference in people’s lives. In Jeremiah 29.11 God says: “for surely I know that plans I have for you…plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope”. How do we begin to claim the future God has for us? Here is what I will do?

I will continue to preach and teach in worship and in study groups – transformation, trust in God and in each other, growth and life together including the disciplines of worship, study, and stewardship of time and money. I will continually ask the congregation for a commitment and active participation in “growing the church”. The goal is to help us more and more to become an inclusive community growing in spirit as we strengthen our relationship with God; growing in love as we seek justice for all people; growing in friendship as we build relationships among members, worshipers, and visitors.

I have asked the ministry teams, and they have agreed that working alone or in concert with other teams and groups in the church, and based on the core value of love and justice, they will take on the goal of helping us work together to witness within and outside our walls to the good news of Jesus Christ. God has blessed our congregation with Ministry Team leaders who are committed to the church. We are called by the Great Commission, after all to “go therefore into all the world, 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” (Matthew 28. 19-20). The ministry teams, in consultation with the board and me will lead us.

And I am asking all of us as members and friends who we want to become members of our congregation, based on the core value of friendship that builds strong relationships with God and with one another. The goal is to support the nurture and growth of Broad Street Christian Church, God has high expectations of us, I pray we have high expectations of ourselves.

Deuteronomy 30.19 says to us, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants will live”.

In choosing life, we will proclaim in word and deed our baptism, and we will say again, who and what we are before God. One of the best descriptions of our identity in God is a collection of Bible verses found on a poster in a colleague’s office. It says:

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15.57), and who was with us at the beginning and who promises to be with us to the end. Amen.