Dive Right In

I don’t usually like to separate people into “camps.” Making the statement that “there are two types of people in the world…”, because I think there is much more subtlety in life than we give it credit, but this morning, I’m going to break my own rule. I believe there are two types of people in the world, those that wade in, and those that dive in.

Let me explain. When you are entering into water, whether it be a swimming pool or a lake, the ocean, or river, anything….there are those who believe that the best way to enter into the water is to wade in a little bit at a time. You walk in up to your ankles, then wait. Then you go to your knees, and wait, then you go to your waist, and wait. Then you go in to your chest, and wait. Then your shoulders, then finally you get your whole head wet.
Those that dive in…don’t wait this long. They just dive all the way in, immersing themselves in the cool water. Getting it all over with at one time.

I’m in the second camp. I dive in. Going in a little bit at a time is torture for me, so whenever I go swimming at a pool, the first place I go is the diving board, and jump right in.

This used to drive kids crazy at camp glisson. As counselors, we would take the campers on “creek hikes” in Cane Creek Falls. Creek Hikes, while some peoples least favorite part of the week, was always my favorite. We would get down into the creek, and hike upstream to the waterfall. They usually had silly themes, and we dressed up, and played games all throughout the hike. Usually the intention of the game was to splash the campers.

But the water…was cold. Way colder than your normal water, because it was a shaded mountain stream. And whenever you would get in, you get screams from the kids that it is “TOO COLD!” And I would always get in the water…and it was cold…and I would lay down in the water immersing myself in that cold water. Letting it run all over me so I could be prepared for all of the water that was going to splash on me throughout the hike. The kids thought I was crazy, but it was how I dealt with entering into water…total immersion.

And today is transfiguration Sunday. A Sunday, that I will admit, is mysterious to me. It is the story of Jesus taking disciples with him up a high mountain. Hiking with them, and then, when they are at the top of the mountain, he changes in front of them. And a voice comes from a cloud telling the disciples who Jesus is, and that they should not be afraid.
For a long time, since Jesus called them, the disciples had been wading into a life with Jesus. They were following him around, seeing him do miracles, listened to him teach, kind of wading into their faith as they were learning about who they were following.

And today, Jesus takes them up a mountain, takes them over to the diving board and shows them and tells them…its time to dive in. Because when we wade in, it is in our control, when you dive in, you give your control away.

Diving in…is risky.

You don’t have time to make sure, and double check, and keep one foot on the side…because when you dive, you throw yourself through the air from one thing, into another.
And to follow Jesus Christ, is a dive. It is coming face to face with the almighty God, and asking to be changed. Yes, it is a lifetime of learning, and a lifetime of God working on our souls about what it means to follow Christ, but the decision to become a follower of Christ is a dive.

That is why we cover you with water with baptism when it happens.

But the disciples weren’t expecting this when Jesus asks them to accompany him up a mountain. I don’t think any of us expect to be asked to dive into the water of life when Jesus asks us to follow him. We just kind of expect to tag along.

I think that is one of the attractive things about sitcoms on TV. We just get to tag along. We get to sit for an hour and a half, sometimes an hour, tagging along with someone else’s life while we observe. We are entertained, and we get to watch other people make decisions and get themselves into and out of situations. While we get to tag along.

And the disciples are asked to tag along with Jesus. And they do. They observe and see and hear. But when they tag along with him up the mountain, everything changes. His life becomes our life. His fate, becomes our fate. Now when he says that we must take up our own cross as well…the reality of the words start to sink in.

When he tells us that we must heal the sick…we are given a new responsibility.

When Jesus tells us that we will be persecuted for our faith, we begin to understand what that means in reality. When we see fire hoses and dogs turned loose on peaceful, faithful people in Selma, Alabama, we begin to see ever so clearly who we are called to be, and what that means. Or when we see walls fall, and reconciliation happening, we see what that means.

We are called to be followers of Christ. To dive in. And the task looks huge.

It is a big calling.

And it was a big moment. And it is a big moment when we truly understand what it means that we are following Christ. We are following the one true God. We are following our Savior. We are following our friend. And when we dive in, the reality of our life comes into focus.

We are coming up on Lent. Spelled with an E. We are not talking about what your dryer traps when you do laundry, we are talking about the season of Lent. The time in our faith when we ask God to help give us clarity and focus as we enter into the rhythm once again of Easter. The rhythm of our life. The rhythm of our eternal life.

And during Lent people give things up, like coffee or chocolate. A new thing is that people add things, like a minister friend of mine who adds paying for the order of the person behind him in Starbucks.

But in its history, it is a season of fasting. It is a season of getting ready. Preparing ourselves for what it really means that Christ died and rose again and saved our life and rescued us from sin, and gave us life again.

Because like before any dive…there is a moment of nervousness.

While in college, I began to search out places that I could jump off cliffs into water. I secretly wanted to make my way over to Hawaii and do the giant cliff dives that they do over there. But before every jump, there is a moment of nervousness. That you have to go through before the power of the jump comes to you.
Lent is that moment of nervousness. It is the moment that we wonder what life will be like when we dive into Christ. When we totally immerse ourselves in the love of God.

And then we jump.

I hope we immerse ourselves in the love of God this Lenten season. As a church, we are immersing ourselves in the Gospel of John. With our worship texts, our bible study, and we even have a performance of the Gospel of John on April 3rd. It is my hope that this immersion will help us all immerse ourselves in our Christian faith. Where we don’t wade in inch by inch, but that we put ourselves completely in God’s love.

This means coming to church and being a part of this community. Where we aren’t affiliated with Christ and this church, but that we are a part of this church. We attend and are active. We immerse ourselves in its ministries, because we know it is who God is calling us to be.

This means giving. Our time and our gifts. Where we don’t look at what we are supposed to give to our faith as a bank account, but that we instead look at it as our privilege to give to the one who gives us life.

This means that we look at the world and proudly proclaim we are Christian. Sharing our faith and the motivations for our actions in being fair and loving and forgiving to all because that is what Christ calls us to do when we immerse ourselves in God’s love.

When Jesus transfigured, the disciples had no idea what was going on. They tried to build tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They were afraid. The glory of Christ snuck up on them. They were following this man for months, and saw him do amazing things. And then, all of a sudden they realize…This is God, and he loves us! God is wrapped up as our teacher and friend, and he has been with us the whole time!

And we are about to share a meal together. An ordinary meal of bread and wine, but a meal we share together. But wrapped up in this meal is the love and grace of God. Where we are given a chance at life, and a chance to dive in and immerse ourselves in the glory of God. And so I invite you all, to dive in with me.

In the wonderful film “O, Brother Where art thou.” One of the characters named , Delmar gets baptized. And as he is coming out of the water he talks about how he has been forgiven from everything in his life. And as he is walking out of the lake he tells his companions, “C’mon in, boys, the water is fine.” I want to make that same invitation to you this morning. C’mon in, Bold Spring, the water’s fine.”