"Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink" (from Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner") could be a description of the church today. We have plenty of water, but is it living water? Will it nourish? Why aren't more people knocking down our doors to quench their thirst?
Renewing our baptismal vows reminds us of the source of the only living water that can most effectively quench our thirst: Jesus Christ. Being sprinkled or dunked in baptism within the presence of the congregation marks each of us as a member of the one family united by our baptismal vows we make before God to love, care for, and nurture one another. This sign of the cross which we receive on our foreheads with water is our invisible tattoo which marks us as belonging to God - as children of God. This tattoo reminds us to remember who we are and whose we are.
In John 7: 37-38, Jesus calls to us, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let the one who believes in me drink...Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." Jesus is the true water of life who turns this symbol of water into reality. Baptism, as one of two Presbyterian sacraments, is the visible sign of God's invisible grace.
The Bible is full of stories of water and its power to drown and its power to revive. Through these stories we are reminded of God's power of creation to bring order out of chaos and God's power to revive that which is dying or dead.
Baptism, at God's initiative, happens only once, yet it takes a lifetime to complete. At our death, baptism is completed into eternal life. So, how do we live into our baptism and our baptismal vows that we have received washing and cleansing, putting sin behind us? It's a lifelong and daily journey to become more and more like Christ. Our daily discipline can be to die to sin each day and rise to new life in Christ as we remember our baptism. How can we use such daily practices to use water as a way to care for creation - all God's creatures and living things? This can be our daily question upon awaking.
Let us renew our vows to let Christ's love flow through us like living water to bless others. In this we will have our thirsts quenched.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
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