Tully Mars

I feel a little like Tully Mars.  I think we all do.

Tully Mars is a fictional character created by song writer and author Jimmy Buffett in his book A Salty Piece of Land.  He is a wanderer doing what wanderers do . . . trying to find their purpose and destiny in life.  When you are introduced to Tully you find out he has been a cowboy in Wyoming, a deck hand on a Shrimp Boat, a fly-fishing guide across the flats of the Caribbean, a navigator on a schooner, and a contractor given the responsibility of revamping a old worn out lighthouse.  Basically, a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Tully's movements and challenge of staying in any one place for any time are fueled by his search for the meaning of his life.  At one point Johnny Red Dust, a friend and confidant of his now deceased father, gives Tully some direction for his search.  I love what he says.

"Tully, there are no words to the song of the ocean, but the message is and always has been simple: not to forget where we came from.  The melody is locked in the water that composes much of what we are.  Most humans tend to ignore the song, but not all.  You are one of the lucky ones who hold the melody in your heart."


I especially love what he says when you substitute your name for Tully's and the words "the ocean" for "baptism."  Go ahead, try it.  Your name for Tully's.  The words "the ocean" for "baptism."

There are no words but there is a message and melody in the sacrament of baptism.

The message is to not to forget where we came from.  We are covenant children of God who have  Divine promises sealed into the very fabric of our being.  God's signature written on our foreheads in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit . . . put there when most of us were only days old.  Promises cemented into our lives as the light to follow when things get dark and we're not sure who we are or where we are going.  I need to remember that . . . and so do you.

But there is also a melody . . . a sweet sweet song being sung that I need to listen to more clearly.  It is the splash of water drops moving from the baptismal font to a young child's forehead on the hand of the Church.  It is the notes of a congregation's voice as they affirm God's activity in a teenager who is making profession of faith.  It is a man or a woman eating the bread and drinking from the cup as a reminder of God's mercy and forgiveness.  It is hearing of God's love in a manger for the one millionth time but experiencing it as fresh as the first day we heard it.  It is Advent and Christmas and the reminder of what God has done and what God will do.  It is Lent, Good Friday, Black Saturday and Resurrection Sunday, the gospel relived in all its dynamic life-giving fullness.  It is the quiet sound of pages ruffling as a bible is opened and God's passion for people is discovered.  It is the off key ruckus of a praise song being sung in traffic.  It is a silent prayer in a restaurant.  It is a bed side visit in a hospital.  It is loving a neighbor or co-worker even though they are not a Christian.  This is the full melody of baptism being sung in all its silence.

The end of the movie August Rush finishes with the words "The music is all around us, all we have to do is listen."  What I am discovering as I journey through Sabbatical is that I need to listen more for the message and melody of baptism being lived out every day.

I invite you to join me.