Why wait?

I didn’t realize it until after I came up with it but the sermon title could reasonably be considered an attack on purity culture. It isn’t. Not to say I don’t have some things to say about purity culture and its essential misogyny and fundamental destructive orientation but if I ever preach a sermon about it . . . that will be another day.

Rather the sermon title is drawn from part of the Acts reading for this Sunday, “As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?'” (Acts 8:36 NRSV) I think it is notable that the Ethiopian official saw water, and said, “Hey! What more do we need? Baptize me.” It isn’t only that this is at odds with what we tend to think is the pattern for adult baptism, i.e. considerable time spent in some form of instruction or catechism, it is at odds for many people, including me, with how we make decisions. It is going a bit too far, not much but a bit, to say I live by the motto, “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow” but I’m close.

How about you? Do you consistently feel the need for more information before you make a decision? Many decisions need more time but for a lot of what I am worrying over what I need to hear is “Why wait?”

As always, I am delighted to hear what you think about the sermon so please let me know as you are inclined and able. Also, if you ever want to see how these sermons live in their context, join us by Zoom at 11:00 Moose Jaw Time (that’s CST, always CST because Saskatchewan doesn’t change its clocks). Here’s the link for the Zoom service:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89989322749?pwd=OEJmeWhpdjZqN0tvanJQREpMRGFnQT09

Everyone is welcome and I promise we won’t pass an electronic offering plate 😀

“Why wait?” St. Mark’s Presbyterian (to download, right-click and select “Save Link As . . .”)

Blessings,