Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:1-3)
Prayer: Almighty God, who formed the earth out of water and through water by your word, who saved Noah and his family through water while destroying the wicked, who delivered your people Israel through the Sea while defeating Pharaoh and his armies, all of which are types of baptism into Christ Jesus, we pray that you will look mercifully upon Elaine, saving her with your people while destroying sin and death. May she, throughout her life, relying upon the grace you give to her this day, continue to mortify sin so that at the last day she may participate in the resurrection of the just and reign with Christ Jesus eternally. Amen
Since the earliest days of our existence after our fall into sin, water has been a threat to the creation in general and the people of God in particular. The world, as Peter clearly says, was created out of water and through water by the word of God (2Pt 3.5). Land emerged on the third day of creation from the formless mass of water hanging in space. When the wickedness of the world increased to the point that God chose to destroy it, God brought the primal waters back over the earth. The waters of the Red Sea threatened the children of Israel as the Egyptians pressed them from behind. The Psalmist, as we heard, describes being overwhelmed by enemies as being in deep waters and flood sweeping over him.
To be overwhelmed by water is to be destroyed; it is to be de-created, to go down into death. Every baptism, whether in the Old Covenant or now in the New, is not only to be threatened by water, but to welcome it and to be overcome by it. The waters of baptism destroy the old creation that is in Adam.
Today, Elaine Marsh is dying. The water will be poured over her head and destroy her. Death is what we deserve. Death is our destiny. To welcome this water would be sadistic and terrifying if it weren’t for the fact that she, like all of us, enter into the flood with Christ Jesus. We are buried with Christ in baptism into death. Those waters that overwhelm us and drag our old creation bodies down to destruction have first overwhelmed Christ Jesus himself. Because he has been overwhelmed by the waters and risen victorious, we welcome the waters of death so that dying with him we may also be raised with him to new life. Jesus has made the place of destruction and death the place of hope and joy, for today we rejoice in the baptism of Elaine, celebrating the destruction of the old world in Adam and being raised to the new creation in Christ.
Rob and Tara along with their other children have already passed through these waters. God has destroyed their entire family so that it might be raised to new life. This death and resurrection, this re-creation of your family, Rob and Tara, is a privilege that entails a calling. Your calling is to not let sin reign in your baptized mortal bodies and to train your children so that they will do the same. You are to yield your bodily members as instruments of righteousness to God and not to sin and to teach your children to do the same. The grace of God given to us in baptism enables us to walk in this new creation life.
Rob and Tara, continue to walk faithfully and train your children to do the same. Continue to put to death the sinful deeds of the body and yield your bodies to righteousness. Your baptism into Christ calls you to this.
