“John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with^[f]water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Mark 1:4-8

“A passenger in a taxi tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him something. The driver screamed and lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus and drove up over the curb, stopping inches from a large window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab. Then the driver quietly said, “Please don’t do that! You scared the daylights out of me.” The passenger, who was also frightened, apologized and said he didn’t realize a tap on the shoulder could startle someone so much—to which the driver replied, “It’s really not your fault. Today is my first day driving a cab. I’ve been driving a hearse for 25 years.”

“The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can survive on your own. You can grow strong on your own. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own.” (Buechner, Frederick. Listening to Your Life. HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

As a pastor I have the opportunity to see people at their best and at their worst. I often walk with people who are nearing the end of their lives. And as I sit and talk with family, I find we often reflect upon how much the world has changed, and together we agree that 2020 has been like nothing we have ever seen. There was no “steeling ourselves against this harshness of reality” as Buechner says, because no one could have imagined such a year of trials.

The love, mercy and Grace that comes to us through Jesus Christ, my friends, is truly startling. That is why we are encouraged to remember our baptisms often. John the Baptist says, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.” While John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, our baptism into Jesus is our genesis to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is this baptism, and our remembrance of this baptism daily that steels us for the best and the worst of our lives.

Pastor Dave