Baptism Sermon

Two weeks ago my husband and I got a puppy. She is everything you could want in a puppy. She is cute and soft and gloriously uncoordinated. We’ve wanted a dog for a long time now, so I can’t tell you how many hours we have spent watching funny pet videos on YouTube and brainstorming possible names. 

A few days before we picked her up we decided on the name “Luna.” We thought it was unique, but not like off the wall celebrity baby name unique. Luna sounded like the name of a Norwegian goddess — fierce, beautiful, and able to take down a reindeer if need be.

Luna felt like the perfect name. The only problem was that when we met her, it became clear that she was definitely not a Luna. I can’t tell you why exactly, except that she just didn’t look like one. She is more sweet than fierce. And she is entirely too chill to take on a full-grown reindeer.

So we went back through our list and decided to name her Penny Lane — and yes, that song has been stuck in my head ever since.

It’s funny, isn’t it, how names can take on a life of their own? Most of us don’t assign much meaning to our first names, but raise your hand if you have ever looked into the meaning of your last name? My maiden name is Finnegan and when I was in college my mom and I traveled to Ireland, where we discovered that my name means something like “fair one,” and can be traced to a specific county near the west coast.

Right now we are in a sermon series called, “questions God asks us,” and this week we are grappling with the question: “What is your name?” which God asks the patriarch Jacob in chapter 32 of Genesis.

Now, before we dive into that story, I should point out that in the Ancient Near East, where the stories of the bible are set, your name was more than just words; your name was your identity; it was reflective of the essence of what made you, you.

For example, the name “Adam” comes from the Hebrew word for dirt, pronounced Ah-Da-Mah, because he was made from dust of the earth. In many instances a character's name also foreshadowed their future. Take the patriarch Abraham, whose name means “Father of a multitude.”  

So a few weeks ago at our confirmation service, I spoke to you about the story of Jacob. Jacob, whose name means “one who grasps the heel” or “replacement,” was born grasping onto heel of his twin brother Esau.

If you remember, Jacob spends most of his story trying to steal the blessings reserved for his older brother. Esau puts up with his manipulative brother for a while, until one day, when their father Isaac is blind and about to die, Jacob decides to steal Esau’s final blessing.  

He accomplishes this feat by covering his arms with goatskins, so that when his father reaches out to him his arms will feel like the hairy limbs of his brother. When Jacob approaches his father’s bed, Isaac asks,  “Who is it?” To which Jacob responds, “I am Esau your firstborn.”

The next time Jacob is asked this question it is years later on the eve of reuniting with his brother. The text says that after sending his traveling party ahead….

Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

The man asks Jacob, “what is your name?” Essentially, who are you? It’s as if this man knows that up to this point Jacob has been pretending to be someone else, someone who is worthy of a blessing. With the opportunity to receive another blessing, we might expect Jacob to lie again. But this time he tells the truth, he owns up to who he is.

In return, the man gives him a blessing, which as it turns out is a new name: “Israel,” which means “one who has struggle with God and humans and overcomes.” It’s interesting really; this new name doesn’t sound too different from his old one. He goes from one who grasps, to one who struggles. You get that sense that either way this guy is a fighter. Could it be that Jacob’s blessing is not a new identity, but rather an insight into the potential God sees in him?

Let us move now from one river scene to another, specifically to the scene of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan. In Matthew chapter 3, we are told that a large crowd of people has traveled down to the river to be baptized by John. He is after all, John the Baptist — it’s kind of his thing.

Imagine the scene with me; It’s sometime during the day, the sun is beating down on a mass of sweaty sinners, patiently waiting their turn. There are probably flies buzzing around, kids yelling, grumpy men and women complaining about the heat.  You know what, just picture standing in line at Disney world.

John, on the other hand, is standing waist deep in the water. His arms are tired from lowering people in and out of the river for days. By now this ritual has probably become rote. But then, Jesus steps out from the crowd and wades into the water asking to be baptized. John balks at first — “oh lord I am not worthy to baptize you.” But Jesus insists and Jesus can be a pretty persuasive guy, so he eventually acquiesces.

Then something really weird happens: at the moment Jesus is baptized, the sky opens up, the Spirit of God descends like a dove, and a voice from heaven says: “This is my Son, the beloved; with whom I am well pleased.”

If anyone wanted to know who Jesus was in the eyes of God, here you have it: Jesus is the beloved. What define Jesus? The love of God.

In a sermon on this passage, Lutheran Pastor and Author, Nadia Bolz Weber, writes:

“You know one thing I love most about the baptism of our Lord text is not just that the Father says, this is my beloved son,” but that God says this before Jesus had really done anything. Think about that. God did not say “this is my son with whom I am well pleased because he has proved to me that he deserves it, he has quiet time with me each morning and always reads his Torah and because the boy can heal a leper.” Nope. As far as we know Jesus hadn’t done anything yet and he was called beloved. The one in whom the Father is well pleased.”

Funnily enough, the reason I thought about this quote is not because of today’s baptisms, but because of the reaction we’ve gotten to our puppy from the students at Georgetown University, where my husband and I work as Chaplains-In-Residence. You see we live in a dormitory on campus on a floor with 100 freshmen. As you can imagine, they freaked out when we got Penny Lane. Before too long, students started showing up at our apartment unannounced and chasing us around campus hoping to catch a glimpse of her. One night, a student texted to ask me if I could bring Penny over to cheer up her roommate who just found out she didn’t make the Crew team. And this, by far, is the most common thing we hear from our students: no matter what went wrong that day, just getting a chance to interact with Penny makes their day better.

One last story about our girl; A few weeks ago, we had the students over for cookies when one of the girls realized grades were out. She debated out loud whether she should check them now or later, as they might be disappointing. Then a friend suggested, “why don’t you look at them now since you have Penny around to cheer you up!” And I added, “Yeah, Penny loves you no matter what your grades are.”

 It may be a silly analogy, but this is what I believe baptism is all about, because in baptism God proclaims that you are his beloved child whether or not you’ve earned it, or know what it means, or plan to return this love one day.

This is why, by the way, we don’t re-baptize people in the United Methodist Church.  Baptism is not an act of faith that you or someone else was giving to God. So it doesn’t matter when or where it happened, or if you were sprinkled, or dunked, or dipped into the ocean — this was an act of God towards you; a recognition of the grace God gives to all of us.

We are called beloved children of God and that name can never be taken away from us. Not by the worst things that have been said about us, the bad choices we’ve made, our successes or failures at work, or our own self-hatred.

Like Jacob we can forget whom we are for a while, even lie about it, but the first and last word about us belongs to God, who names us beloved. So, Beloved Ones, I invite you now to remember your name by joining me moment of silence. A moment to sit back in our chairs, close our eyes and remember just be, loved.