Signs of New Life (Bot9 #335)
It was baptism week at our church this weekend and it brought me back to my baptism 21 years ago. 21 years…makes me legal! Those ceremonies always get me and this one was no different. It was our first one in the church’s new building and might have been the first one I’ve seen in person since the Covid isolation period. As usual, I was moved to tears at their stories and was overwhelmed by the cheers of the crowd as they came up from the water to new life.
Baptism is a sign of new life. I happened to be listening to the Exploring My Strange Bible podcast from The Bible Project this week, focusing on The Crocus Flower and Empty Tomb. Tim Mackie explains the significance and beauty of the crocus flower every winter in the northern part of the country and how that one sign of life moved him to hope every year. Whether it be the flower or a baptism, new life is important for us to see and experience.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about submitting your life to the story of Christ. Mackie explains that Jesus is the “new Adam” and provides us with a new model for mankind. While human nature might say that making mistake or sinning against society is worthy of exile, Jesus gives us hope that a new story might be written in our lives. In fact, death may be the greatest sign of a new life. An empty tomb, dying to ourselves, and only he who dies will truly live are a part of following Him. We are totally and utterly transformed as a result. And it feels like utter nonsense, total foolishness in the moment. Dying to live again feels impossible. It’s totally backwards and doesn’t make any sense. We’re encouraged to the worst possible scenario only to be reborn and recreated
We’re seeing a crumbling of so much we once thought was stable. The political landscape is a mess. College sports are scrambled like a plate of eggs. Even baseball is a far cry from the words James Earl Jones uttered as Terence Mann in Field of Dreams - “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” What we once knew and recognized as the game is no longer the same.
But this, too, is just a part of God’s narrative. Things are creating, they fall, then they are redeemed and restored. Baseball and so many other institutions will look different. The challenge is that no one likes to see the transformation process. None of us would want to look at a caterpillar in the cocoon as it becomes a butterfly. Yet all of us will have the opportunity to revel in these changes once they are complete, just like those of us who have chosen to put our faith on display through baptism and other means. I still can’t believe all that God has done with me over the past 21 years. It’s hard to believe that I speak in front of people and they listen, I write and people read, I encourage and lead others. I’m nowhere close to the person I was 21 years ago. I, along with those choosing baptism this weekend and the crocus flow are proof of the truth of the scripture. We are signs of new life.