Baptism is a powerful force in the life of a Christian for two reasons. It is something we share in common. Christians all over the world can say that they were baptized in Christ. You met a Catholic in Ireland. He was baptized. You met a Pentecostal in Nigeria. She was baptized. The second reason Baptism is a powerful force is that baptism takes us back to the basics. Now let me set these two ideas up for you with a couple of stories.

You perhaps at one time or another have seen on TV the old black and white video footage of the civil rights marches in the sixties. Martin Luther King often at the front received his share of stinging high-pressured water hoses. Rev. King once remarked that he and the other marchers had a common strength. He put it this way, as "we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were a Baptist or some other denomination, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water."

You and I know the water. All of God's children know the water. We share by our faith this common symbol, this initiation, this rite, this power of God over the deep and often raging chaos of life. We know water! All over the world Baptism unites us.

It also brings us back to the basics. Perhaps in our lifetime the most public statement of repentance was that of President Bill Clinton's. The one he made before a Prayer Breakfast on September 10, 1998. He summed up the task perfectly when he said, "I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned." Then he quoted from a book given him by a Jewish friend in Florida. The book is called "Gates of Repentance."

Clinton read this passage from the book: "Now is the time for turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red to orange. The birds are beginning to turn and are heading once more toward the south. The animals are beginning to turn to storing their food for the winter. For leaves, birds and animals, turning comes instinctively. But for us, turning does not come so easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have been wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It means starting all over again. And this is always painful. It means saying I am sorry. It means recognizing that we have the ability to change. These things are terribly hard to do. But unless we turn, we will be trapped forever in yesterday's ways."

Clinton's quote ended with this prayer: "Lord help us to turn, from callousness to sensitivity, from hostility to love, from pettiness to purpose, from envy to contentment, from carelessness to discipline, from fear to faith. Turn us around, O Lord, and bring us back toward you. Revive our lives as at the beginning and turn us toward each other, Lord, for in isolation there is no life."

What ever you might think of Clinton and his sincerity, he understood that he needed to do something very basic before the nation. He needed to repent. It's amazing isn't it? Not even a president can escape the basic truths of life. It's like in elementary school. Our parents and teachers understand the importance of building a strong foundation for a child's future. So, we were taught the basics, the three R's: Reading, writing, and arithmetic. Ever notice that only one of those begins with an R. I always thought the fellow that came up with that one needed to go back to school.

As parents and teachers and leaders today we would do well to remember that life is still composed of basics. That is why, when Mark chose to open his Gospel, he did so with the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan. Baptism reminds us of the three R's of the soul: Repentance, righteousness, and revelation. So, don't be amazed when a president of the United States repents before the nation for even Christ himself, as we have just read, began his ministry identifying with the basics: repentance, righteousness, and revelation. Christ submitted himself to the basics. You ask me, Pastor, why should I be baptized? My answer is, Christ himself was baptized, so should you. Baptism begins the most basic elements of the Christian walk: Repentance from sin, a life of righteousness, and an understanding that God has reveled himself in Christ.

Let's take a look at our Lord's Baptism and what it tells us about the three spiritual R's:

I

Repentance is the first of the three R’s. Repentance is Baptism’s prerequisite. What does John say? Repent and be baptized. Repentance first. Baptism second. At the height of the Iranian hostage crises a pastor talked with a woman who told about how she had befriended an Iranian student. In the early stages of the revolution, all access to money in the banks was cut off. The young man offered to do some odd jobs for the woman. His financial condition continued to decline so she invited him to stay in her home. She gave him a room and he ate his meals with the family. The woman's neighbors did not approve of this arrangement. Unless the young man was willing to denounce the revolution the neighbors were not willing to accept him. They kept their distance. Her pastor asked her, "How did you come to befriend someone like that?" She pounded her fist on the desk and said, "Because I am a Christian, darn it. You think it is easy?" This is the call of baptismal repentance. The ritual is meaningless unless it is seen as complete dying to self and a rebirth to a new way of life that is seldom easy.

II

The first of the three R’s is repentance. That’s the first basic component of baptism. The second is righteousness. Righteousness is baptism's fruit. It is like the story of Father Damien from the 1800’s. He was a missionary to Hawaii planting churches on the island of Molokai. Being a kind of Apostle Paul to that part of the world. He planted several churches on the main part of the island, but then he discovered another part that nobody ever went to. It's a small Peninsula that juts out north from the island and is separated from the mainland by an almost sheer cliff 2,000-3,000 feet high. The only way to get to that peninsula is to jump off the cliff or go by boat in the open ocean. That deserted peninsula was where the Hawaiians abandoned all their lepers. If you got leprosy in Hawaii, you were taken to this peninsula and abandoned. And Father Damien felt a call to the people there who had been cast off, outcasts removed from society. And he worked there just as he had done on the rest of the island. He built a church with his own hands and helped them build a society - even helping them build houses for themselves - and he lived among them and sought to humbly serve them in any way he could. One day, after he had been there for about 15 years, he was cooking a meal and boiling some water when he spilled the water and it hit his foot. And he realized that there was no pain when it hit. So he tried again. He purposely poured the boiling water on his foot, and there was no pain. That could only mean one thing. He now had leprosy. The next Sunday in church as he began to lead the people in worship, he didn't give his normal greeting. You see, every Sunday he would start, "My fellow believers." But this Sunday he began, "My fellow lepers." He had in every way become one of them. Even taking upon himself their greatest pain.

III

Repentance. Righteousness. The third R is revelation. The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry happens at the water’s of the Jordan. But it’s not just the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; there is something else at work in the water. This is God’s startling and awe filled punctuation. This is God’s sudden bolt of lightening upon the world. Twice in Mark's gospel the word "torn," with a dramatic and active sense is used. The first “tearing” occurs as Jesus rises from the waters of baptism and the second is at the end of Mark's Gospel as the temple curtain is rent. The first event presents the in breaking of the kingdom of heaven and the second the tearing away of the religious barrier between God and humanity. It is as if Mark is saying God has to rip open the skies and change the course of human behavior and rip apart the human barrier of sin that separates us. God has to do it in a sudden and violent way or else we are lost.

Let me describe it this way. Phil Jackson, the once Chicago Bulls now LA Lakers coach, tells of an experience when he was a player for the New York Knicks in the early 1970s. His team beat Boston in a hard-fought series; then, played Los Angeles for the championship, easily winning. This was the pinnacle of his sports career to that point, the moment he had been striving for with all his heart since he was a kid. Several days later in NYC, he went to Tavern on the Green to celebrate with family and friends. The place was crowded with celebrities like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Later, Jackson wrote this, "the intense feeling of connection with my teammates that I had experienced in Los Angeles seemed like a distant memory. Instead of being overwhelmed with joy, I felt empty and confused. Was this it? I kept saying to myself. Is this what was supposed to bring me happiness? Clearly the answer lay somewhere else." He later understood what was missing. He writes, "What I was missing was spiritual direction."

Now let me add that I do not condone the spiritual path that Phil Jackson took. He took many beliefs from Hinduism, to Christianity, to New Age thought and blended them all together. He says he has found his path but that to me is nothing but a maze. But his experience points to a very basic need in life. It’s one of the three R’s, the need for revelation, for something outside of our own experiences to guide us and direct us. We need God to break in and reveal himself to us. To tell us this way you go and this person you follow. That’s what happened at Jesus’ baptism. Listen to this: Jesus was coming out of the water. He had just been baptized to begin his ministry and all these people are standing around watching and God tares open the heavens, descends on Jesus and announces, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”

Do you hear that? God is telling you: this way you go and this person you follow. Jesus is my Son and he will show you the way and it starts with Baptism. If you want to know the water, that many sitting here this morning have known, start with the basics of baptism: Repentance from sin, a life of righteousness, and an understanding that God has reveled himself in Christ.