Thirty-four years ago today, my parents did the best thing they could do for me. They brought my sinful, not-so-little infant body to the waters of Baptism. And they didn’t stop there. They, then, did the second best thing they could do for me (and the thing that I am learning is constantly difficult) – they continually catechized me in the Word of God.
In those waters of baptism, God joined me to the death and resurrection of Jesus (Ro. 6:3-5).
In those waters of my baptism, the all-consuming Flood of God condemned all that was unbelieving in me while God safely placed me in the ark of His catholic Church.
In those waters of my baptism, God led me out of slavery to sin and drowned all the evil that pursued me. Yet, I went safely through the waters.
In those waters of my baptism, God led me into His Promised Land.
In those waters of my baptism, God sent His appointed messenger, not with a burning coal to touch my lips, but with a few handfuls of water to splash on my forehead.
In those waters of my baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Me, and God said, “You are my beloved son.”
None of this was my own doing. It was God’s. He washed. He condemned. He delivered. He absolved. He chose. He elected. He predestined.
I was passive through it all. Check that. I was kicking and screaming and resisting.
Like Naaman, I and others often scoff at the idea that water could cleanse me of my leprosy of sin (1 Kgs. 5:1-14). However, the Scriptures repeatedly promise that it wasn’t simply water. It is water with a promise. A promise of God. God said it. Baptism saves me (1 Pe. 3:21). I can’t change it – and neither can God. His promises are sure, certain, and unchangeable.
The best part of all of this: today, God is going to continue to make promises to me. God is going to feed me with His Body and Blood. The resurrected Body and Blood of Jesus will be placed in my mouth so I know my sins are forgiven and also that I too, like Jesus, will rise again on the Last Day.
Exodus 15:1b-18 is now my song as it is the song of all the baptized:
1 “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand;
the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;
pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,
till your people, O Lord, pass by,
till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Thirty-four years now, I am baptized. And for that, I praise God.
Pastorsamwise 
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