Rainy Days

It’s raining as I write this. Raining again. It feels like it’s been raining everyday for the last week. What’s the old saw? April showers bring May flowers. Rain brings renewal. It nourishes creation; creation nourishes us. Without rain, there is drought, desert, desolation. There are a number of times in the bible that speak of droughts. These droughts were desperate and devastating times for people. One such time is described in 1 Kings 17. God tells Elijah that there will be no rain “except by His word.” There is a drought for 3 whole years. 3 years under the sweltering heat with no rain. No rain, no crops, no food. People depended upon God to nourish His creation so that they might survive. In chapter 18, God does send the rain upon the land. Rain brings water; water brings life.

Too much water can do the opposite though. Too much water can lead to death. This is seen nowhere more in the Bible than in the story of the Flood. God is sorrowful because of the sinfulness of all the world. So, He wipes it clean. Water purifies. He sends rain upon rain and drowns all life on earth. Water takes life. But God starts again through Noah and the Ark. God preserves life and makes things new again. Water brings new life.

We see all this in the wonderful gift of baptism. Through baptism, God kills, purifies, and gives new life. In the waters of baptism, God drowns the old person, the sinner in you. He washes you clean of your sinfulness. And raises you again to new life in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul says in Romans: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).  

Martin Luther calls the life of baptism to daily die and rise with Christ. Through baptism, each day you are made new in Christ Jesus. Yesterday’s faults give way to new life today. You can put behind your past mistakes and failures, your worries, doubts and anxieties. You can live each new day in the hope, joy, and peace of the Lord. Water brings new life.

May these rainy days be reminders of the new life you have each day in Jesus through your baptism.