Sermon: Baptism of Jacob

Preacher:

Chris Hollingshurst

Date:

Sunday 17th August 2025

Venue:

Guildford Cathedral

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

This morning  we will be baptising Jacob [the youngest member of our Sunday congregations].  Felicity [his mum] has been worshipping with us for some time and is known to many of us, and we [will] rejoice with her as water is poured onto Jacob’s young forehead.

Like most people, Jacob won’t be able to remember his baptism, or the part played in it by water in the font, but in later years I pray that he will be able to reflect upon the fact of his baptism, as those of us who are older are able to.

Outside of Baptism, water has many essential and practical uses. Rain from the sky is essential to water the crops to feed us. Drinking water is essential to quench our thirst and to keep us cool in hot weather. Water is essential to food preparation and to personal hygiene and is also often at the centre of leisure activity and relaxation. Water is the stuff life

As the words of the Baptism service spell out, Baptism highlights the qualities of water and uses them to teach us spiritual things. So when we are baptised, it is though we are ‘drowned’ to the old ways, given new life, washed clean from human sin, and refreshed – even, to the point of being born again.

How so?

Well, Baptism is one of the Church’s sacraments, by which we mean that it is a visible sign of the invisible action of God. As we administer baptism, God is present and comes to the one who is being baptised in unseen, yet life-changing ways.

Today we have heard that Jesus himself was baptised. The reading from St Luke’s Gospel says that, as Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit came upon him. St Luke describes this as looking like a dove flying down to rest on him – and as a result the dove has become a sign and symbol for the Holy Spirit.

You may know that Guildford is the only English Cathedral dedicated to the Holy Spirit, and as a result there are emblems of doves in all around the building. The most obvious example is that in the Rose Window above the High Altar (0945 point). Once you have seen the dove there in the centre, you can’t miss it.

There’s more to Jesus’ baptism, too 😊When Jesus was baptised, God’s voice from heaven told Jesus that he was God’s Son, and that God was well-pleased with him.  And as we are baptised with water, we too are being told that are God’s children, the Beloved; with us He is well pleased.

You may have noticed that Jesus was baptised when, in Luke’s words, ‘all the people were baptised.’ Right at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus associates himself with ordinary folk by the river, and not with the professionally religious. Consequently, baptism becomes the sacrament in which, though Jesus, all the baptised belong to God and to one another.

In Baptism, God calls us by name to follow Christ. If we are too young to make our baptism promises for ourselves, we rely on those who raise and care for us to walk with us in faith until we can discover God’s promises for ourselves, both through their example and within the life of the Church.

For this we need the Holy Spirit – and that is what we are given at our baptism. The more we use that gift to love and serve God and other people, the more it will grow. The sign of the dove serves as reminder of this, whenever we see one – either in a stained-glass window or flying for real in the air outside.

Without doubt, life can be deeply challenging at times, but the imagery of water can helpful here as well. We heard these words in our first reading:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.

God gave these words to the prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before Christ walked the earth. Isaiah spoke to Jacob, which was by then the collective name given by God to the people as well as, wonderfully, the name of today’s baptism candidate!

When it feels as if the waters of life threaten to flood us out, or the rivers sweep us away, the promise through Isaiah is for us too - that God remains with us. When we turn to God, we will know God’s presence and strength. As God’s people we are precious in God’s sight, and honoured, and God loves us.

Today we are reminded of this. Just as at Baptism solemn promises are made to God, a promise also is made by God – that we belong to him, that we are safe, that we are loved.  A covenant of love.

Baptised with water and the Holy Spirit, following Jesus’ example and knowing God’s love, called by name to follow Jesus, assured of God’s presence in life’s storms, belonging to God and to each other in a covenant of love…. What joy Baptism brings!

[Thanks be to God.]

 (May it be so for Jacob and for us all.)