April 27, 2025
Acts 8:26-40
Introduction
“As they were going along the road they came to some water and the eunuch said to Philip, ‘Look, here is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?’”
When was the last time you thought about your baptism? Did you think about it this past week? This past month? This past year? Do you remember it? With three students getting baptized, it’s a perfect day to talk about baptism, and for us to talk about baptism as something more than what happens when we get baptize because baptism, I believe, is something that happens all the time.
And our text for today helps reenforce this belief—the Ethiopian Eunch was immersing himself in God’s word, and it was guiding him to something bigger than himself, something grander than the opulence around him, and it helped him to realize baptism was needed in his life, and based on what he had read and what Philip had told him, there was nothing standing in his way and keeping him from the sacrament of baptism. And it all makes me wonder… What did he want for his life? What was he hoping for? What thirst took him to those waters? I wonder if he knew which parts of his life needed to go, needed to drown and die, so something new could arise.
But more than that, I wonder how you would answer those questions today.
Move 1
I remember my baptism—12 years old at Central Christian Church in Wooster, with my friends Kristi Morris and Andy Keener, our families and church family all watching and celebrating with us. After church, my mom, dad, brother and sister and I all went for lunch to either Burger King or the “mom and pop” drive-in diner Bishops. That was the day I was immersed in baptismal water, in the tradition of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), being laid down in the water as to lay down in death and then being raised back up as to be resurrected to new life.
But that baptism, so many years ago, wouldn’t be the only time I was immersed in the waters of baptism. There have been so many other times when I discovered what I wanted and was hoping for in my life, times I had been thirsting for waters of renewal, times when I knew some part of me needed to be laid down and die so something new could rise up.
And on this baptism Sunday for Elizabeth, Rosy, and A.J., I want for all of us to consider again our baptism, and the many time since when we were immersed in the waters of baptism—and when we were not—and remind ourselves of how God is always bringing us to the waters of baptism, and offering us another chance for a clean break from a past we want to let go of, another opportunity for transformation of the soul, another reminder that God’s grace and unconditional love knows no bounds—while always saying to us… “Look, here is water.”
Move 2
There have been so many times in my life when God said, “Look, here is water”, and all of them became baptismal waters. I remember hearing, “Here is water” when becoming a husband to Julie—weathering the challenges and embracing the joy—realizing though neither of us are perfect, we are perfect for each other. I remember hearing, “Look, here is water” when becoming a father—to Violet and A.J. and how both of those experiences baptized me into being a dad in ways I could never have imagined, and how both have been baptizing me with playfulness and imagination and challenge—while also revealing the truth I am not smarter than a fifth grader. I remember my trips to the Shalom Center in Chile, being baptized by those whose language I didn’t speak, but could yet understand their language of love and faith that said, “Look, here is water.” And I think about the people who have called me or come to my office and said, “Can I talk to you about what’s going on?” And every one of them baptized my priesthood in the waters of their life, inviting me to be more myself with them by saying, “Look, here is water.”
And I often return to the countless days when I called on pastors and counselors and said, “My life is a mess. I don’t know what to do.” We would sit in offices or coffee shops or park benches and they would baptize me into the truth of my pain and my brokenness and into the possibilities of something new, a different way of being and living saying, in so many words, “Look, here is water.” And I can’t count the number of times the waters of baptism flowed out of my eyes and down my cheeks as I once again realized how real life is, how beautiful it is, and how fragile and painful it can be.
Every one of those, and many others, was a baptism. Every one of those was an experience in which I opened myself or the world opened to me, and my life was deepened, and I was awakened to the waters around me. I was enlarged and forever changed. Those baptism were as real, holy, and life giving as the day Rev. Jerry Murphy at Central Christian Church baptized me in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Move 3
I share all of that because like our text reveals, and like our deeper consideration of our baptism reminds us, we can begin to see how baptism doesn’t happen just in the baptistry or font of the church. Yes, we’ve been taught there is only one baptism where God’s Holy Spirit descends upon us, etching into our spirits God’s grace, forgiveness, and unconditional love—all a vital moment of commitment, consecration, and covenant that never needs redone. And I stand firm is this belief, but I want us to know too, with God there is only one baptism, but in life waters appear over and over and over again, revealing and reminding us the critical events of Christ’s life, ministry, death, and resurrection are incorporated into our lives.
Every time we come to those places in our life, those people, and those relationships, that open to us and invite us to be more fully ourselves, God is saying, “Look, here is water” and we are baptized. Every time we experience something that cleanses our eyes, and we see more clearly, we are being baptized. Every time something happens in our heart, and we love more deeply— every time we begin to live from a new place of wisdom or gratitude, God is saying, “Look, here is water” we are being baptized.
Our marriage and relationships, our parenting, our friendships are all baptismal waters. Our work and vocation are baptismal waters. Our passions, dreams, and creativity are waters of baptism. Our concerns for justice and human dignity are baptismal waters. Our pain, brokenness, sorrows, and losses are baptismal waters.
God is constantly saying, “Look, here is water.”
Conclusion
“As they were going along the road they came to some water.”
Baptismal waters are always paradoxical. The water from which new life is birthed is the same water in which life is drowned and dies. And it’s all grace, a gift.
Our text for this Baptism Sunday is not a story only about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch—it’s not exclusive to them. It’s your story and my story. The stories I just told you are not unique to me. You have them too. The road of our life is filled with God saying, “Look, here is water!”
Think of the many selves that make up your life and who you are. I’ve told you some of mine: the selves of being a husband, a dad, a pastor; the selves that are broken, sorrowing, hopeful, and in love. What are yours? In what ways have you been baptized? What baptism is happening in your life today? Where is your life being cleansed, renewed, or deepened? In what baptismal waters are you being immersed?
The waters of baptism is not contained solely in the baptistry and fonts of our churches. The world is our baptistry; and our relationships, the people in our lives, our experiences are the holy waters in which we are baptized.
So what if we began to look at the people in our lives, our relationships, our experiences as baptismal waters? What will you do when you come to that next pool of baptismal water? What does it hold for you? How might God be enlarging, awakening, transforming, or deepening your life?
What is to prevent you and me from being baptized again and again and again? Nothing. Not a thing—because the waters of baptism are everywhere. “Look, here is water!” And “Look, here is water!” And “Look, here is water!” Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, Baptism Sunday, April 27, 2025
Holy God, we come today to celebrate the waters of baptism for Elizabeth, Rosie, and A.J. And we come mindful of how their baptisms remind us we need the consecrated fullness baptismal waters offer because there are parts of ourselves that need to drown and die. Not because they are bad and need to be punished or because they are wrong and need to be destroyed, but because we need to be transformed and brought back to a different way of life where other parts in us can be born.
God of new life, just as our physical body needs water to survive, grow, and remain healthy, so does our soul. We know this because we have experienced the times when we drink deeply, and life is vibrant, fruitful, beautiful—and we are swimming in baptismal waters. And we know this because we have experienced the times when life feels desolate and dry; parched and empty—when we’ve stepped out of the water, forgotten our baptism, and our soul is athirst for meaning, purpose, and direction.
So guide us O God, to the waters of baptism, and connect us once again to you, to your Son, and Holy Spirit.
And guide also, this day, Elizabeth, Rosie, and A.J. to the waters of baptism, showing to them no one gets baptized alone or in isolation—that it always happen in community and in relationship with you and your Church—and that today, we their church family and community, surround them with love, and vow to support them in their journey of faith and life.
So by your blessing O Lord, may this day of baptism be one of blessing and new life for Elizabeth, Rosy, and A.J., and may this day of baptism be one of blessing and new life for each of us so that something new can arise in us all.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Risen Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”