Live Wet April 3, 2016 Confirmation and Baptism

Live Wet

April 3, 2016

Confirmation and Baptism

   “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.”

That’s part of the trouble with Christians today. Jesus is living water but we are dying of thirst. There is abundant life, but we choose death.

Jesus was on his way to Galilee from Jerusalem. In order to get there he had to go through a region called Samaria. Now the Samaritans and the Jews worshipped the same God, but just like modern denominations, they disagreed about some things. Specifically, the Samaritans had at one time intermarried with non-Jews, and believed that God should be worshipped on Mount Gerazim instead of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Frankly, they adhered to the Torah (the first 5 books of our Old Testament) more closely than the Jews did. But the two groups had a deep seated and long running hatred of each other. (That is why the story of the GOOD Samaritan was so scandalous to the Jews.)

Jesus could have gone around Samaria, but that was a much longer trip, and it seems that he had a point to make. He spots a woman at Jacob’s well and asks for a drink. They banter about Jews and Samaritans for a moment and then Jesus tells her,     “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked and he would have given you living water.”  He went on to say     “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drinks of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty… it will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life..”

   Jesus is talking about life and death here. Remember he lived in a desert region. In the desert, water is as good as gold. And living water (that is flowing water, not well water) is even better. It is fresh, and clean, and cold, and ever-renewing. At least 60% of the adult body is made of water and every living cell in the body needs it to keep functioning. Water acts as a lubricant for our joints, regulates our body temperature, and removes waste. The longest a person can go without water seems to be a week — but 3 days would be more typical.

   Baptism and confirmation, which is a baptism renewal, brings us  Jesus’ gift of that living water, that life giving water, that  water that gushes up to eternal life. It should not be somber, formal, occasions.    Going to a baptism or confirmation should be more like going to a water park, than a funeral. We should have that tickle in our tummies that comes with a great water slide. We should come out dripping with joy, and soaking wet in grace. So let’s LIVE WET!

Baptism is celebration of the gift of living water. Baptism and confirmation is a celebration that “the water gushing up to eternal life” is gushing up in our youth. So let’s celebrate… let’s LIVE WET!

How do we do that? What does it mean to LIVE WET?

 First LIVING WET means jumping in head first and splashing around in God’s grace. LIVING WET means letting the ever-nourishing, ever-refreshing, and ever-cleansing, and ever-life-giving, living water of Christ continually flow over us and through us. Biologically we cannot live without H20. Spiritually we cannot live if we are not bathed in, soaked in, and showered with the living water that is Jesus Christ. 

Katie was being baptized, but her three-year-old brother, Peter saw the pitcher of water and spent the entire baptism asking for a drink. When it was over Peter finally got his drink. Before anyone could stop him, he picked up the pitcher in both hands and brought it up to his mouth, and he was immediately soaked in the waters of baptism.

Oh if we could all be that anxious to be bathed in living water!!

In practical terms, LIVING WET means staying close to the source of living water, Jesus himself, so that you can experience his love, know his word, and grow in Discipleship. It means that we immerse ourselves deep of the refreshing waters of prayer, and the nourishing waters of Bible study, the invigorating waters of worship and communion, and let the love giving waves of Christian community wash over us again and again. We come up for air, but we do it all over again. Enjoying the living water of Christ is a lifelong effort that leads to a lifelong, life giving relationship with Jesus himself.

 Second LIVING WET means dripping living water everywhere we go. Leaving wet footprints of God’s grace in your living room and kitchen. Leaving wet footprints of God’s love in your school and your job. Leaving wet footprints of  justice and compassion on the streets and in the stores. Leaving wet footprints of love and forgiveness in all of your friendships and with every stranger you meet.  Leaving wet footprints of the Kingdom of God all over the world, anywhere you go outside of these doors.

Living wet… is my way of saying that we have to be the hands, and feet, and heart of Christ. Living wet is all about living as Christ would have us live. Living wet requires that we remember that we have been given the power to forgive, comfort, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, act with justice, love tenderly, serve others, and to walk humbly with God. Living wet means that we drip the fruits of the spirit wherever we go:  a drop of love here, dribble of joy there, a puddle of peace there, a sprinkle of patience, a pool of kindness, a shower of goodness, a spray of faithfulness, a spurt of gentleness, and more than a few drops of  self-control. Living wet is to dribble God’s love all over our families, community, and our world.

 Today we stand knee-deep in the waters of baptism. We have a choice to make, whether we should dive in headfirst or make a quick retreat to the safety of the pew. In other words, confirmands, there is still time to escape … but if you stay… and I hope you will… It’s time to take a chance. It is time to take a chance and LIVE WET, dive in head first into the deep cool pool of God’s love and grace.

Come on in the water’s fine… last one in is a rotten egg!