Born Anew

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

March 30, 2014

Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant

Born Anew

Ephesians 4:1-6

 

⁴There is one body and one Spirit,

just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶one God and Father of all,

who is above all and through all and in all.

¹I therefore beg you to lead a life worthy of

the calling to which you have been called,

²with all humility and gentleness,

with patience,

bearing with one another in love,

³making every effort to maintain

 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

These words written to the new Christians in Ephesus,

words attributed to the apostle Paul,

are filled with passion;

they are also filled with a sense of hope,

hope for those who heard them 2000 years ago,

hope for you and me here and now.

“I beg you: Lead a life worthy of the calling

to which you have been called.”

Lead a life worthy:

Lead of life of humility;

Lead a life of gentleness;

Lead a life of patience;

Lead a life bearing with one another in love.

Lead a life of Christ.

This is the life we’ve been called to, you and I,

followers of Christ, each of us,

just like the men and women of Ephesus.

This is the life we’ve been called to by the Holy Spirit.

This is the life we’ve been called to

through our baptism.

It’s remarkable, when you think about it:

all it took was a few drops of water,

a few drops on our foreheads,

and it was as though we had plunged in,

gone down deep,

and then came back up,

breaking through the surface,

water spraying everywhere

as we expelled the breath we’d held,

expelled the last remnant of the old life,

and then took our first deep breath

of the air of new life –

filling our lungs with holy air,

godly air,

as the warmth of God’s sunshine played upon us.

In that second or two we were under the water

everything changed.

We went down one person,

and came back up another.

We went down living in one world, this world,

and came back into another world, God’s world.

We went down beneath the waters in our baptism

and broke through the water’s surface reborn,

born anew,

not born again –

a term that has become weighted, freighted

and misunderstood.

No, born anew –

that’s the better way for us to think about it:

born to new life,

new life in Christ,

new life following Christ.

Paul put it perfectly in his letter to the Romans

when he wrote that when we came up out of the water

we  “entered a new country of grace.”

That’s what happened to each of us in our baptism:

“We were lowered into the water, …

[and then ] each of us was raised into a light-filled world

by our Father.”

(Romans 6:4, The Message)

It doesn’t matter where it was

or when it was.

It doesn’t matter who baptized us,

or how much water he or she might have used,

or whether the water came from the tap,

or came from the Holy Land.

Whenever it happened,

wherever it happened,

whoever presided,

from that moment we were born anew,

born into God’s light-filled world –

a land of grace,

a land of peace,

a land of love.

Of course, we are people who

like to plot our own courses,

like to go our own way;

and so, as we journey through life we stray,

stray from that new land

that grace-filled land.

We stray from God’s light-filled world.

We find the shadows too intriguing,

tempting, exciting,

and then, off we go.

But God always provides us with the opportunity

to return to the light,

to turn back from the shadows,

to repent;

that’s something God assures us 24/7.

And Lent provides us with a special opportunity

for us to acknowledge our waywardness,

acknowledge how we have strayed,

where we’ve strayed,

remembering that if say we have not strayed,

if we say we haven’t turned from God,

if we say we haven’t lost our way,

we deceive ourselves,

…and only ourselves.

When you come forward in a few minutes,

come forward with a sense of

repentance and humility,

but also come with a sense of expectation,

excitement,

hope, and

gratitude.

For in an act as simple as putting your hand

in a plastic bowl filled with ordinary tap water,

you can know the joy of forgiveness,

forgiveness offered you by

the grace of God through Jesus Christ,

every bit of you washed clean.

And then, having repented,

you can take your stone that says,

“Born Anew” and embrace anew the life given you,

the life you were called to by your baptism,

the life you were called to through your baptism;

as Paul wrote to Timothy,

“the life that really is life.”

(1 Timothy 6:19)

Baptism is a gift given us by God;

but baptism is also a summons from God,

a summons to you and to me to respond –

to respond to God’s gift of grace

in calling us into his world, his kingdom

as we follow his Son.

Baptism is a summons to let God’s grace,

God’s love, the goodness and compassion of Jesus

flow through us,

not as a trickle, or even an occasional stream,

but as a healthy, steady, flowing river,

a river of grace,

a river of love,

a river of generosity and compassion,

of mercy and forgiveness,

a river with God as its source,

the Spirit keeping it flowing,

and Christ charting its course.  

Take a stone to remind you of the gift you’ve been given.

Take a stone to remind you of God’s summons,

and your need to respond.

Take a stone to remind you of the godly, holy air

that filled your lungs as you came up out of the water

born anew and

marked as Christ’s own forever and ever.

In our baptisms,

“we died to what separates us from God

and were raised each of us, to newness of life in Christ.”

(Book of Order W-2.3002)

So, “lead a life worthy of

the calling to which you have been called,”

called by your baptism,

called by God as a follower of the one who is

“the foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone,

[our] sure foundation”

(Isaiah 28:7)

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!

AMEN