So, 

Have you ever been a bit hesitant about making a decision?

I know I have! 

Sometimes the decisions are small, and important I guess at a certain level, but not life changing.

Like whether to get this pair of sneakers or that pair, or whether to have a homemade pizza for dinner or an omelet, and then whether to use up the leftover fajita chicken or the leftover bacon. 

Hungry anyone?

Sometime the decisions are kind of medium. 

Should I buy a new car or get a used one. Should I get the Ford or the Subaru. The decision is important. There is big money involved, and in some way, it could be life changing I suppose, but not really.

And then there are those huge decisions! Scary decisions! Ones that will change everything going forward, like making a do not resuscitate choice for a beloved adult who is terminally ill.

Like leaving home and moving across the country or around the world, like those folks who up and came to the United States with no idea what was ahead for them, leaving behind family and friends, and perhaps certainty for a new but very uncertain life.

Just like those Israelites, standing at the edge of the shores of the Red Sea with Moses.

He said all they had to do to start a new life was to step onto the momentarily dry sea bed and walk into their new future, their new adventure, their new journey.

It was terrifying, trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. 

But a choice had to be made.

Sometimes decisions are like that huge, scary, and even life changing. Some of us really have a hard time making those choices, so we dither, lollygag, and dissimulate. I have no idea what those words mean, and if you aren’t as well, then then lets all just procrastinate. 

The problem is in order to enter the promised land, you have to step out, you have to begin the journey, you have to cross the divide between going with Jesus and not.

Now God offered the Israelites some very special help. God quite often does, although it is amazing what we fail to see God doing on our behalf because we are looking for it, navel gazers that we are.

As Derrick often points out in the Wednesday night bible studies, it is amazing what the Old Testament people saw God do, and what the disciples and others saw Jesus do and still they struggled to believe and understand.

It’s the human condition! 

God acts and we so consumed by our very small vision of the Kingdom of God and our self-centeredness, miss miracles every day.

Just like those Israelites, terrified of stepping into the Red sea, missed the cloud cover between the Israelites and the Egyptians, a little reminder for those who noticed that even while they were whining, God was with them. 

Perhaps, just saying, God is doing the same for us!

For us, the first step of faith may not be as dramatic as an Israelite stepping onto the bottom of the Red Sea and walking between walls of water, but it is still a step of faith. 

Because in order to begin, you have to begin! You have to believe! You have to be willing to enter where the water was and hope you won’t have to swim!

Entering into baptism is – while we often don’t see it this way – very much a step of faith. 

It’s a bit scary. You have to believe. And you have to trust God, if not for yourself, then for the child you bring to the waters.  You have to want to go where God is leading, otherwise the journey makes no sense.

And that’s exactly what the people behind Moses were saying!

“What, are you nuts! Did you bring us all here to die in the waters? You think us all walking across the sea bed on slippery rocks is a lark?”

“We don’t want to die! We want to live, and we could live just fine back at home in Egypt! We don’t need this baptism! We’ll all just want to go home!”

Because they thought, living back at home in slavery was safer than walking with God!

But if you want to grow in faith, if you want to experience the Promised Land, if you want to discover the joy of the Lord, you like Jesus before, need to enter the water, step down on the rocks, cross the divide, and show yourself as a faithful disciple.

Bringing your child for baptism, and/or choosing baptism for yourself as an adult if you have never been baptized, is just as much an act of faith, as stepping down into that space between the walls of water.

It is a decision to follow the Spirit, to follow God’s lead, to get up and follow Jesus as a faithful disciple.

And here’s the thing. You won’t regret it, and…

You won’t go alone…

Because we are all with you.

Into the waters we go, together.

Amen.