November 3, 2024
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
“The Long memory of Water”
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
November 3,2024 Based on Based on Mark 1:4-12 & Romans 8:12-19
In my hometown of Pensacola Florida, it takes about 30 minutes to an hour to get anywhere across town. This is pretty much because everywhere you go, you have to navigate around large bodies of water.
I don’t think I realized how much water shaped my life growing up until I’ve been back to visit as an adult. I see my kids playing in the beach and think about all the times when I was a kid their age playing at the beach. Not only that, I think about the photos I’ve seen of my parents and even grandparents when they were kids playing at that same beach.
This last time we visited we got to go out on a boat on the large bay that Pensacola sits on, and out there on that deep blue water I remembered the times our high school youth group got taken out on the bay to go inter-tubing… I was on the water again and I could picture all their faces as though I was right back there with all my friends. I could even picture my friend’s grandfather who owned the boat, this lovely man from our church who was so thoughtful as to want to spend an afternoon on the bay with all of us obnoxious teenagers.
A few visits ago we went to my hometown’s history museum, and learned about all of the archeological digs the local university had been conducting under the water, how scuba divers had found under the
water some of the first settlements by the Spanish there dating to 1559, some 500 years ago, and six years before the settlements in St. Augustine, a fact I love to rub in the face of my spouse who is from St. Augustine.
We looked over the Spanish artifacts pulled up from the water amazed at the long history of people who looked out over these same waters and then we moved on to even earlier artifacts they’ve unearthed from the Muskogee tribes who called that land and water home even centuries before that.
When I've been back near those waters ever since, I imagine the tribes navigating the water ways via their dugout canoes, and fishing and swimming on the beaches long before Europeans even thought to explore or conquest.
There is something about water that connects us.
Something about water that helps to evoke our long memory….
As Jesus was wading into the waters of the Jordan, I wonder what memories were spawned for him. Had he played in these waters as a kid? Swam here to cool off in the heat of summer? Was this where his
family came to bathe, to clean off the dust and grime life? Was this where his ancestors came to wash clothing or relax? How many of their stories did he remember? Who was he picturing as he stepped into the waters? His parents? his grandparents? His ancestors who had called this area home for centuries? I like to imagine that this particular body of water, the Jordan, held a deep and personal significance to Jesus, connecting him not only to his community, to his family, to the land he called home, but also, I like to imagine Jesus stepping into the water and remembering his connection to God, to the ancestors of his faith, to all of creation.
Water is a profound gift. Without it, there’s no life. Every tree, every animal, every human being on this planet depends on water to survive and thrive. And in a way, water has a long memory. The same water that we drink, that we bathe in, and use today has been cycled through life on Earth for millions of years. It flowed through rivers in ancient times, rained on desert lands, it nourished fields and crops—in so many ways it has seen history unfold. Water connects us from generation to generation. When we step into water we step into something that is ancient and storied, and we can feel it.
And I think this is true not just for Floridians, but for all of humanity, whether you grew up on a beach, or in a desert or the nearly landlocked land of central Ohio because the truth is we are all part of a tradition that is soaking wet in stories that root us to the water.
In the beginning the spirit-wind hovers over the waters of creation and God separates the sky from the water, waters are a creative force. In the story of the Great Flood, water appears as a source of power and destruction, yet Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark survive, as the waters recede for a fresh beginning.
Moses and the Israelites escape to freedom through the parting of the waters, and water is seen as a source of liberation.
In the dry desert wilderness, God provides water from a rock to sustain the Israelites in their journey, water quenches our thirst and sustains life.
Then there’s Jesus, who calls fishermen by the water, who preaches by the water’s edge, who calms the storm walks on water, and hangs out by wells to talk about living water.
Our tradition is soaked with stories of water. And when we talk about baptism, we remember all of it.
In our Gospel reading in Mark, as Jesus is baptized by John, as Jesus goes into the waters, the heavens open, and we hear those powerful words spoken by a voice from heaven “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you, I am well pleased.” These words aren’t just for Jesus alone—they’re for all of us. As Paul writes in our other scripture, in Romans whoever is in the Spirit is adopted into the family of God, heirs to God’s kingdom. In the waters of baptism, God claims us all as beloved children, united with Christ, but also united with each other, and with all those who have ever entered these waters
On this All Saints' Day, we are invited to think about what it means to be part of this great family. When we come to the font, it’s not just a moment for us individually but an invitation to join something far bigger than ourselves, a community of ancestors, a cloud of witness, a circle of mutual love that traces our heritage back to the rivers of Jordan and beyond it.
In the holy waters of baptism, we remember that we are connected to all those who have gone before us, to extraordinary saints who’ve done so much to live out their faith, and the everyday saints who lived their lives faithful and done their small part.
We enter these waters and we hold close the memory of the saints who went before us. We remember how they stewarded their faith, living as Christ’s hands and feet in their time. How in their own ways they lived with courage, justice, kindness, and resilience. In our baptism, we are connected to this community that exists through time and space and all around the world. We enter these waters and remember how we are all one family, born through the Spirit, into God’s life, one body in Christ. When we enter these waters, we remember, and we are remembered.
The last time I was at the beach, looking out over the water another memory came to mind. I remembered a friend from Highschool. When we were in college he died unexpectedly. All his friends came home to
celebrate his life and remember him, but He came to mind on the beach because he was a surfer, and one of the rituals they held to remember him was a paddle out.
It’s this tradition surfers have when a surfer dies. The community gathers on a calm day, and you paddle out past the surf and into the ocean, all the surfers present, form a large circle, sit up on their boards, they hold hands, and they remember. They remember their friend, remember their friends love of the water, they share stories of great days and great waves and it helps their friend live on in the community that still exists. There, in the great expansive immensity of the ocean, holding hands in a circle, they remember their connection to each other, as a community of support, a community of love.
I was never a surfer, but experiencing this ritual was powerful, and helped root my memory of this friend to the ocean, to the waves, in a way that made me realize that all these surfers who knew my friend, would remember him whenever they got back on their board, and returned to the water. That his memory would live on in the waters.
Let us give thanks for God’s gift of “Holy Water.” May the water in our lives remind us of how God Connects us together, that we are all bound together, hand in hand, throughout time and space as God’s family. May we return to the water and remember, that we are held in a long history of love, and that through the waters, we not only remember, but we are remembered.
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “For All the Saints” Ralph Vaughan Williams
arr. John Purifoy
INTROIT “Though I May Speak” English Folk Melody
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: When nothing existed but chaos,
All: The Spirit swept across the dark waters and brought forth light.
One: In the days of Noah
All: God saved those on the ark through water.
One: When the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, Moses followed God’s direction
All: and led them to freedom through the sea.
One: In the fullness of time God sent Jesus,
All: nurtured in the water of a womb, baptized in the water of the Jordan.
One: We are surrounded by waters that bless and unite us!
All: May we overflow God’s blessing in us to all the earth.
*HYMN 385 ‘”All People That on Earth Do Dwell” OLD HUNDREDTH
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Ella Bryan
Holy and Loving God, we confess that we often forget we are bound together by your Spirit, that our lives are connected to each other, to creation, and to you. We have not cherished the waters of life, nor have we stewarded the gifts of creation as we should. We live as if our choices affect no one but ourselves, forgetting the saints who walked before us and the generations who will follow…
Individual Confessions offered in the silence
God of baptismal mercy,
Forgive us, we pray. Renew our hearts, guide our actions, and help us live as faithful stewards of your grace and all you’ve entrusted to us. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE 694 “Great God of Every Blessing” vs. 1 AURELIA
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “In Paradisum” from Requiem Gabriel Faure
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Mark 1:4-12
John the Baptist was in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. He announced, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”
At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Marie Boozer
SCRIPTURE Romans 8:12-19 CEB
So then, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it isn’t an obligation to ourselves to live our lives on the basis of selfishness. If you live on the basis of selfishness, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. All who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons and daughters. You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ, if we really suffer with him so that we can also be glorified with him.
I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters.
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN INSERT “Creator of the Water” LANCASHIRE
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at www. indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “As the Water Falls” James Michael Stevens
COMMUNION
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
GREAT PRAYER
SHARING THE BREAD AND CUP #527 “Eat this Bread” BERTHIER
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Holy God, we thank you for all of creation’s gifts, for water that refreshes us and binds us together, for this meal and the grace it recalls for us. Send us now into the world, refreshed and united by your Spirit, ready to love and serve as the body of Christ. Amen.
*HYMN 326 “For All the Saints” SINE NOMINE
TIME OF COMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND CHORAL BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “Healing Waters” Leander Lycurgus Pickett arr. Christopher Alexander
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452