Immersed... an epiK beginning

Some time ago Steven Curtis Chapman wrote and recorded a song called Dive. The lyrics go like this…

My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice
That’s telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith
So here I go

I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush lost in the flow in over my head I want to go
The rivers deep the rivers wide the rivers water is alive
So sink or swim I’m diving in

I’ve been there, on the edge, about to make a decision to go full-in and it is a rush of anticipation and fear all rolled into one big stomach churn.  You know that once your feet leave the ledge there is no return. 

Below, when the first inch of your body breaks the surface of the water until you are engulfed in the surroundings of another world beneath the surface the entrance is exhilarating.  Under the surface every pore of your skin feels the embrace of the water. You are surrounded, immersed, another dimension has taken you over.  It feels different.  Things are not the same.  You cannot sustain or support yourself by breathing. You are at the mercy of what holds you, what buoys you, what touches every fiber of your being.

In that place we can understand the invitation of Jesus in a different dimension.  Stop and remain in suspended animation for a moment.  Think about where you are.  Sense what you are feeling.  Reorient to your new surroundings.  You are baptized.

Some of the last words of Jesus to his followers was to go and reproduce what had happened in their life with him in others.  Three years before these laboring men, each from their own reality, leapt off a ledge of security to follow Jesus.  Now, he is instructing them to invite others into this new life.  It is not a life of security, but it is a life of challenge, sacrifice, loss and hardship and even death.  It is a life that banks its time on another life and another government.  It is also the life we were created for.

When we look at the community of God we call the Trinity we see a lifestyle we are naturally created for.  Yet and still, it will take a decision on our part to fully embrace and be embraced by this life.

Jesus told his followers, “Go, and create followers in my way. Immersing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”   When Jesus gave the command for his followers to reproduce their life as followers in others, he also gave them the pathway.  To follow Jesus is to be immersed in the Community of God – the Trinity.

When Jesus said, “baptizing them in the name…” what did he mean?  Was it just a mantra to be repeated at a ceremonial baptism to celebrate a decision or might it have been more?  I’d like to believe it is more.  The name, according to "Theological Dictionary of the New Testament" means ‘everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one's rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.’

So, what might it mean for us, as followers of the way of Jesus and mentors in the way of Jesus, to see this in a deeper sense?

Immersed in the Fatherhood of God

As children we are all exposed to images of fatherhood.  Some are warm and fuzzy and some are harsh or repelling.  As children of God we have a hard time getting past the earthly images that have so impressed themselves into our psyche.  God knows that to fully trust him, and have the kind of faith that sustains us in impossible circumstances, we need to see him in a light that is completely trustworthy.

The love of our heavenly Father is a consistent theme in Scripture and speaks of security, belonging, provision, acceptance and guidance.  For me to ‘know’ the Father’s love is to ‘know’ I am held by him and nothing can separate me from his love as I see it in Jesus Christ, my Lord.  It is to know that his complete love allows me to live a life free from fear of condemnation and that I can be disciplined without the terror of expulsion.

When I feel this security and immersion in love, I can begin to personify that in my own life to others like my own children, my family, my friends, neighbors and coworkers or the people across town or around the world that I do not know but somehow care about.  That brings me to a place where I can be sent as an example of security.

Immersed in the Son

Can you imagine when, at the moment of Mary’s conception, Jesus leapt off the ledge of heaven to be implanted into the womb of a young girl from Galilee?  The very expression of who and what God is left the proximate presence of eternity to enter time and history.  He entered a life where he went from omnipotence to learning, from worshiped to worshiper, from eternal spirit to bodily form. How could he do this?

Love.

The Son of God knew his place in the Community of the Trinity.  Because he was secure he could risk life on earth.  He trusted the plan of love and that trust enabled him, the expression of love, to become flesh and blood, and move into the neighborhood (to borrow a phrase from Eugene Peterson.)

When you and I are immersed in the security of the Father we can begin to then be immersed in the Son.  We get how he took a risk that paid off in death, then life.  We understand how we can give our life for an eternal cause.  We step out from security to enter the insecure world of loving others without expectation of being loved back.  Not only that, we step out from the world of security to love others that will hate us, terrorize us, ridicule us and enslave us.  We put flesh on the love of God in us.  We forgive as we are forgiven, love as we are loved and work as we are worked over.  Immersion in the Son means immersion into a world we are not of but choose to be in.

Sometimes, that world overwhelms us.  It is then we know we are not in this alone.

Immersion in the Holy Spirit

Jesus told his followers near the end of his earth journey, “I will not leave you alone.  I will send the Helper.  He will guide you into Truth.  He will remind you of what I have said.  He will show you things to come.  He will convict of sin.  He will provoke righteousness.  He will remind you your enemy is defeated.”

Sometimes, in this journey of following the way of Jesus and touching the lives of others with eternity, we find ourselves helpless.  We do not know what to think, what to say or where to go.  At these times it is important that we are, as the first disciples on Pentecost, immersed in the Holy Spirit.  When we are immersed in the Holy Spirit we are constantly saying, “not my will, yours be done.  I cannot do this, but you can do it in me, Lord.”

We make ourselves available to the agency of the Spirit when there needs to be a word of knowledge, a message of wisdom, faith for another, the working of a miracle or any of the supernatural occurrences that are beyond our control.  We cannot make the supernatural happen, but we can be conduits of God’s special grace to those in need. 

This might never happen in us or it might happen frequently. It is not ours to determine, but it is ours to be available, ready, immersed in the help of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.

When we choose to follow the way of Jesus, the last piece of Jesus’ message comes through loud and clear.  People observe what Jesus commanded.  We are not selfish humans, we are the Body of Christ.

Follow.  Take the leap. Immerse.