in our death-ravished and sin-decimated world.The God-breathed-into-life of Jesus, the God-blessed person of Jesus, at this moment begins to work out the consummation of salvation over death.
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, by Eugene H. Peterson, pages 23 and 24.
(This blog post is about baptism. It's not about creation or evolution. I will mention evil, but it really isn't about evil. Nor is it about forgiveness of sins or the deity of Christ. It is simply about baptism. It is not meant to be comprehensive. Hey, it's just a blog.)
There are numerous opinions as to what exactly happens at the moment of one's baptism. Similarly, there are numerous opinions as to why Jesus was baptized. It is likely that each opinion carries with it the same amount of truth and error as any other. Arguments, ahem, excuse me, I meant to say discussions, have ensued for centuries, hopefully based on biblical principles, about which understanding of baptism is correct and which is not. I'm not really interested in discussing them here. Frankly, I'm not educated enough in any of the different views to even try. In this post I'd like to discuss one description of baptism that I've never heard before- or at least, I don't remember hearing it. In the book I'm reading now (after several starts and stops) Eugene Peterson describes the baptism experience as a "replay of Genesis," specifically the Creation story. I appreciate what he has to offer in these early pages of his book.
For some time I have not been all that concerned with the "how" of Creation. For every "discussion" about baptism, there are 100 "discussions" about creation versus evolution. Some time ago, this debate lost its importance for me as a Christian. I believe in God, I believe God created, and I believe God created with a purpose. I don't really care how God created. It doesn't change the fact that I am here. I do have opinions about each position- creation or evolution- but that's for a different post. A post that I probably won't ever write. I do however, think the Creation story is incredibly important for humanity when we consider it in terms of why we were created and what it was like when we were first created. I've come to believe that the story of the relationship that man has with God is the reason the Creation story is in the Bible. I don't really think it's supposed to be about how God created us, rather why we were created and what 
happened next. That how I look at it and it's made quite a difference in how I understand my relationship with God.I don't think many people would argue that there isn't evil in the world. At some point something went wrong in our relationship to God. Things weren't like they were in the beginning, when things were first created. The creation story tells us that things were good. We had a good relationship with God. Then we decided to do things on our own. This is when we decided to do things differently than the good way. God's way no longer suited us. We decided to define good and evil for ourselves. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn't just a fruit tree, it represented the authority that we submit to. When we are content to let God's understanding of good and evil guide us, the tree sits beautifully in the middle of the garden of our life and things are good. But when we decide that we want to make our own decisions about what is good for us and all of creation, when we eat the fruit of the tree, we find that our knowledge is lacking and self-serving. Evil ensues. We can no longer be trusted to have God's goodness at our center, as our m
otivation for life, thus cleaving our holy relationship with God. I'm not sure that God kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden was to punish them. I get the feeling that it was more to protect the goodness and purity of that which truly belonged to Him. I liken it to the only reason I would ever kick my son or daughter out of my home- because their very presence has become a threat to our life. That's a muddy comparison, I know, but it's the best I can do. So for me, the Creation story in Genesis is a short story about where we used to be in relationship to God and how it got messed up. The rest of the Bible is the story of God's plan to rescue us, to bring us back into a right relationship with Him. To bring us back to goodness. To bring his salvation to the world. Enter Jesus....[...prophecy...yada, yada, yada...Christmas...yada, yada, yada...miracles...yada, yada, yada, death and resurrection...
This is the natural next step in the direction of this post. But it's not what the post is about. So I'm going to skip it for now, perhaps talking about it at another time and get back to what I started out to discuss- baptism.]
I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the very embodiment of life as God intended for it to be- the way it was in the beginning, when Adam and Eve also lived in the way (of goodness) the truth (of goodness) and the life (of goodness.) His life and teachings are the example and descriptions of what the way, the truth, and the life look like in the Kingdom of God, or what they would have looked like in the Garden of Eden. In the Gospel of Mark, the very first part of Jesus's story begins with Baptism. The beginning point where, just like in the Creation story God breathed life into everything, God now breaths life into Jesus. "The God-breathed-into-life of Jesus, the God-blessed person of Jesus, at this moment begins to work out the consummation of salvation over death" (Peterson, 24).
I know it may seem over simplified. It is. But this is a blog post; it isn't the more detailed version. We already have that version, it's called the Bible. It's there to be read. But I really appreciate Peterson describing baptism as a replay of Genesis. It has helped me understand my own faith journey a bit more.
So what does this mean for me? I've been baptized so it must mean something. As I said earlier, people have argued (shoot, I did it again), I mean discussed for centuries just what baptism means. For me it means that I am now re-born into the garden where I once again have a choice. It is a choice to follow God's way or not. Each and every moment of every day I have the choice
to live God's good way, or my way. My way may be a lot of things, but it isn't good. (Just ask the people I've hurt.) It's as if the tree is once again in the garden for me. I can see it and relish its beauty and trust the creator of the tree that the knowledge of good and evil is not for me to mess with. I'm simply to live by the Creator's guidance. I'm to submit to the way, the truth, and the life. Baptism is the moment I become a God-blessed person in Jesus. The moment I begin to live life not for myself, but for the Kingdom of God. To cultivate life as in any garden.Baptism is a replay of Genesis. As Jesus is lifted out of the water, God breathes life into him...
Or into me...
The same Spirit of God, so lavishly articulated in words that create out of formlessness, void, and darkness everything that is, "heavens and earth," fish and birds, stars and trees, plants and animals, man and woman...
This description could have described my soul- formless, void, dark, mostly void of purpose.
...now descends on Jesus who will now speak salvation into reality in our death-ravished and sin-decimated world. The God-breathed-into-life of Jesus, the God-blessed person of Jesus, at this moment begins to work out the consummation of salvation over death.
Now descends on me bringing reality to my death-wish ways and self-absorbed, pleasure-seeking motivations. The God-breathed-into-life of me, now God-blessed, at this moment begins to live according to the way, the truth, and the life, as defined by the Word, for the life-cultivating work to which God has called us from the beginning.
This is one of the many things I'm thinking about right now. Right now, and well, all of the time.
