(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Bomb Cyclone”,
originally shared on January 8, 2026. It was the 393rd video for our YouTube Channel, Streams
of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my
wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
Bomb Cyclone, right? Today we’re going to see how one changed everything.
And the United
States invaded Venezuela and captured its (democratically illegitimate)
president and took him into custody for trial in the U.S. Bombs were deployed,
setting off a cyclone of response, both pro and con, within our country and
around the world. Russia, China, and Iran have all been setting up facilities
and are heavily invested in Venezuela, and Cuba has an interest. How will they
respond to a blockade? Complex issues and colliding values swirl around us like
another kind of Bomb Cyclone. The only group that seems to be almost
universally happy, though cautious, is the Venezuelans!
And, this coming
Sunday, the vast majority of churches throughout the world will be marking a
controversial event that changed more than all the bomb cyclones,
meteorological or metaphorical, that have ever shook the foundations of the
world: The Baptism of Jesus!
How could that
be important?
I read a story
posted from the Facebook group “The Two Pennies” the other day about a NASA
engineer, an African American man who had grown up in legally segregated
Alabama. In 1982, he was working, in his free time, on a new kind of heat pump
for refrigerators.
Lonnie Johnson was
working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena on the Galileo
mission to Jupiter during the day. He worked on nuclear power sources for
spacecraft and stealth tech for the Air Force.
One night, the heat
pump experiment he had been working on at home in his bathroom shot out a
stream of water like a gun, and he knew that he was about to pivot to a
different application: water guns.
He had shown his
engineering gifts from his childhood. In high school he won the science fair.
He was the only African American student in the competition.
Now, he was going
to try to sell a toy to an industry notorious for its preference for cheap
components, high profit margins, and in-house engineers.
He had built a
high-pressure air chamber separate from the water, into his water gun prototype
and he called it the “Pneumatic Water Gun”.
He took it to a
picnic and the children lined up to try it.
For the next seven
years he took it to toy manufacturers and heard “No” from every single major
toy company.
He refocused and
devoted himself to the development of this water gun full time, until the money
ran out and he had to go back to work part-time.
He gave it one more
try at the American International Toy Fair in New York in 1989, when the
vice-president of a company called Larami saw his demonstration, and his
response was “Wow!”
He simplified the
plans and the toy hit the market in 1990 as the “Power Drencher”. It sold
pretty well.
The next year, they
named it the “Super Soaker”, and it became the must-have toy of that summer. It
sold 2 million units.
Last year, it had
produced over $1 billion in sales.
Mr. Johnson used
his Super Soaker money to build his own laboratory: Johnson Research &
Development. He has held over 100 patents and worked in the development of
advanced battery technology, solar energy conversion, and new types of engines.
But to millions of
children who grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, he was the man who gave them
one of the best summers of their lives.
That’s what the
Baptism of Jesus is. Baptism is a super soaking that is a gift from God,
modeled for us by Jesus, giving billions of people their eternal lives.
How can that be?
I read about a
pastor once who was a passenger on an airplane talking with a seatmate when she
asked him what he did for a living. He said, “Well, I work for a global
enterprise.”, She said. ‘Do you?’ He said, “Yes, I do. We’ve been established
for 2,000 years and we have outlets in nearly every country in the world, with
over a billion workers every day. We’ve got hospitals and hospices and homeless
shelters. We do marriage work. We’ve got orphanages and feeding programs, and
programs to relocate the displaced. We have colleges and universities, we do
leadership development, and facilities construction and management. We do all
sorts of justice and reconciliation things, and basically, we care for people
from birth to death. But our primary work is in the area behavioral alteration
and life transformation.”
“Wow!” the woman
said. “What’s it called?” He said, “It’s called the Church.”
But the Church
didn’t begin with immediate acceptance. In fact, it began in fear on the Day of
Pentecost. The rejection and crucifixion of Jesus was followed by the violent
persecution of his followers for hundreds of years before the Church
began to be somewhat accepted. And that persecution continues in some places to
this day.
Its foundation is
the Sacrament of Baptism, God’s Super Soaker, and Baptism is rooted in the
great unnecessary baptism modeled in the Baptism of Jesus Christ.
This coming Sunday
is the first Sunday after the day of the Epiphany.
The Day of the
Epiphany of our Lord is fixed at January 6th every year. In some
places around the world, it is just as big a holiday as Christmas. In some
places it is Christmas.
It marks the event
when the wisemen from the East came to worship Jesus. It is the first
manifestation of Jesus to the gentiles, the non-Jews.
Epiphany means
“manifestation”. The season of Epiphany is a season of reflection on what the
birth of Jesus means, and the first Sunday after the day of the Epiphany of Our
Lord marks the day at the beginning of Jesus manifestation to the world, at the
start of his public ministry, when Jesus was baptized. It is the Sunday of the
Baptism of Our Lord.
Here’s how Matthew
describes it in Matthew 3:13-17,
13 Then Jesus came from
Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented
him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But
Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for
us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been
baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened
to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on
him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the
Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Baptism of Our
Lord was an epiphany!
Have you ever
watched or read a cartoon where a character is facing some dilemma? They think
about it. Hard. Then what happens? Poof! A burning light bulb appears over
their head!
What was not clear
is now seen clearly. Light has shined in the darkness. They have had an
epiphany! Something longed for has become real, it has become manifest.
How does that
manifestation happen in the Baptism of Jesus? The answer to that question can
be seen in the “Bomb Cyclone.”
The volume of the
recent rain we have had was unexpected.
We were supposed to
have another year of the La Nina weather pattern based on rotating ocean
temperatures, bringing light rain at best. But we’ve been pummeled with rain
over the last couple of weeks. We’ve been waiting to feel confident that the
drought we had for a few years is over. Is it?
The people of God
had been waiting for the promised Messiah (the anointed one, the chosen) for
1,000 years and received nothing but some encouragement from the prophets for
the first 700 years. Then, there was no word from God through the
prophets for the final 300 years.
Then John the
Baptist shows up with a word from the Lord. The Messiah was close by!
And then, the
Messiah shows up where John was baptizing people in the river Jordan and
requests baptism.
What? Why does
Jesus need to be baptized? What is he doing there? John says that he is
the one who should be seeking baptism from Jesus!
Jesus says that
John should baptize him, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all
righteousness.”
John immediately
consents.
What is Jesus
talking about? He is the Messiah, the Son of God, fully God and fully human
being? He lived a sinless life. Why does he need to be baptized?
The answer is, “He
doesn’t.” At all.
Jesus seeks to be
baptized as an example, as a great unnecessary. Like dying on the cross, it is
a gift of grace.
Jesus is baptized
to show us who He is. He is doing something physical to show us the lengths He
will go to make a way for us to be reconciled to God.
And then God is
present in all three persons, One God, in the atmosphere of heavenly glory.
Jesus is being
baptized, the Holy Spirit is “descending like a dove and alighting on him,” and
the Father speaks from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am
well pleased.”
It’s the
atmospheric river at Jesus’ baptism, coming unexpectedly and bringing the
blessing of the manifestation of God. God with us.
All of that,
swirling together? That’s a Bomb Cyclone! And it changes everything.
Why? What is this
baptism that Jesus extravagantly models for us? Unnecessary for him, but
necessary for all humanity?
Martin Luther, the
16th century Church reformer, describes it in his short manual with
the basics of the Christian faith, “The Small Catechism”, from which come these
five FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions):
1.
What gifts or benefits does
Baptism grant?
It brings about forgiveness of
sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who
believe it, as the Word and promise of God declare.
2.
What is this Word and promise of
God?
Where our Lord Jesus Christ says
in Mark
16:16, “The
one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not
believe will be condemned.”
3.
How can water do such great
things?
Clearly the water does not do it,
but the Word of God, which is with, in, and alongside the water, and faith,
which trusts this Word of God in the water.
4.
What then is the significance of
such a baptism with water?
It signifies that the old person
in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned through daily sorrow for
sin and repentance, and that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to
live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
5.
Where is this written?
St. Paul says in Romans 6:3-4, “Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by
baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
I read a little
book once on the psychology of swimming called, You Only Feel Wet When
You’re Out of the Water, when I was an adult competitive Masters swimmer,
pre pandemic. The most memorable part of it, for me, was the title.
It’s true, isn’t
it? You don’t feel wet when you’re in the water. It’s your environment, it’s
everything, it’s your atmosphere. You only feel wet when you are out of the
water. But you will eventually dry off if you stay out.
You got wet in
baptism. But you got away from the water and the water dried off. But the
baptism didn’t. And it never will.
You don’t notice
your baptism when you’re living in it. You only notice it when you’re not.
You can dry
up spiritually, but you will always be baptized. Are you feeling a
little dry today? Does the living relationship with the one true living God
restored in your baptism seem far away? Does your faith seem distant, or dry,
or yet to come?
Do you feel
disconnected from the Church? Disappointed? Do you know someone who needs to be
reconciled with God?
How can that sense
of the Baptized life that really is life be restored emotionally, even when we
know intellectually that it has never left us?
Well, it can
and it can’t, and either one is OK.
First, the good
good news. You connect with God by connecting with God.
Sally and I are at
an age where the programs we watch on legacy TV tend to advertise pills you can
take to improve your memory, like Prevagen. 😊
I asked my primary
care doctor once if he thought they would help me.
He answered that
the best way to improve your memory is to exercise it. And I think that that’s
true. I’ve been trying to learn Mandarin Chinese over the recent years, for example, and I believe that that
has improved my memory.
The same is true of
our Christian life. The best way to improve your sense of being a Christian is
by being a Christian! Study your Bible, pray regularly during every day, serve
others sacrificially, think about what is good and honorable, work on yourself
so that you are a good instrument, and then forget yourself so that you can do
the will of God.
Second, the good
bad news. You may never have an emotional sense of connection with
God, but what you have will be much deeper than what you can feel.
Mother Teresa was
an Albanian nun who established an order of nuns who cared for the poorest of
the poor in Calcutta, India. She left instructions that when she died, her
journals were to be burned. They were preserved and published, nevertheless.
The world was
shocked when her innermost thoughts came to light. Her journal was filled with
her feelings of spiritual emptiness, a longing for something from God.
Some read that and
said, “See. She was a fake!”
Others read that
and said, “What a saint, to be obedient and faithful while getting nothing in
return!”
Some people say
that there is no such thing as altruism, of selfless service to others. They
say that when we do good, we feel good and that that feeling is our reward and
the reason we do the good that we do. Mother Theresa got nothing while spending
her life doing what is universally recognized as saintly service to the poor.
We too sometimes
feel the same in our lives of service, in the life of faith. Sometimes we just put our heads down and keep
chugging ahead and, only later, maybe, realize that the Holy Spirit was there
within us all along, giving us a deeper sense of joy. We just didn’t have a
word for it.
In the same way, we
receive everything important in life, forgiveness of sins, redemption from death and the devil, and eternal
salvation given to all who believe it through our baptism. Baptism is a
spiritual Bomb Cyclone. It isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only
thing that makes a real life real. It is a gift from God. It’s the water in
which we live!
Imagine a clear
glass filled to its midpoint with water. Is it half full or half empty?
I would argue that
it is completely full, half with water and half with air that contains water
vapor.
We are spiritually
completely full through the presence of the Holy Spirit even if we may feel
half empty. The Holy Spirit was given to us at our Baptism. It doesn’t matter
what we feel if we are walking in the wetness of our Baptism.
Find some water
right now and make the sign of the cross on your forehead. Make the sign of the
cross and say to yourself, “Remember, you are baptized!” Or find some others
and remind each other.
God was manifest in
the baptism of Jesus Christ in the river.
Seek your baptism
if you haven’t yet received this sacrament, this sacred event.
You can’t earn it,
you will never fully understand it, you certainly don’t deserve it. It’s a
one-time, non-repeatable action of God. And, it can happen at any age.
If you are
baptized, you are a child of God. You are a new creation. You who were once a
part of no people are now God’s people. You have been transformed, given the
living relationship with the one true living God for which you were created,
you have been restored and made new.
Walk wet if you
have been baptized, if you have experienced the Bomb Cyclone, the Super Soaker,
of God’s grace.
The great
unnecessary Baptism of Jesus is a sign of God’s grace for you. The grace
of God changed everything.
Live every day in
its blessing, in daily repentance, in newness of life.
You’re ready. You
have everything you need to walk wet.
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