Sharers in the Promise

One of the most important days in the life of any Christian is the day on which we are baptized.

As we prepare to baptize Akur and Theonie today into this mystical Body of Christ that stretches across national and cultural borders and across generations, ages, and even the fabric of time—I find myself reflecting on how baptism shapes our lives.

I was baptized as a child, and as such I have no memory of the day. 

My mom searched through our family archives this week and produced the certificate that reminds me that I was baptized on March 9, 1980.

While I’m sure the day was special and wonderful, and that my parents celebrated it with their friends at church, I’ve learned over the years that baptism has a lot more to do with the life that unfolds beyond the ceremonial day than it does with the particulars of the sacrament.

Yes, on this day in which we remember Jesus’ own baptism, we acknowledge that something profound and lasting is occurring through the mysterious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Akur and Theonie will be changed and indelibly made Christ’s own forever.

But growing into the full stature of Christ—which involves walking through the door God opens through the sacrament of baptism—takes a lifetime of attention, dedication, and patience.

As such, I want to take this opportunity to remind us all of this calling we share in baptism, and encourage not only Akur and Theonie, but all of you to attend to the journey of baptism in whatever length of days lay before you.

As members of Christ’s body, one of the most important truths to remember is that from your baptism on, you will never again walk alone.

In our contemporary Western world that is hyper-focused on individualism and narrow self-advancement, this aspect of baptism is truly revolutionary.

Your conception of YOU grows larger after baptism.

No longer can you act like you have no need of another member of the Body, no matter how much you may disagree with them theologically, no matter how far they may have strayed from the path, and no matter how much others may encourage you to turn your back on them.

This spiritual communion can, at times, be frustrating, challenging, and uncomfortable.

But learning to know ourselves as part of the larger body is how we draw nearer to God, and once we navigate through the shallow waters of discomfort with one another’s differences, we can begin accessing the treasures that can only be found in the deep waters.

I’m not saying that we ignore any abuses of those who might want to prey on our communal commitments to the body—predators of this nature need to be confronted and met with appropriate justice—but in the vast majority of cases being a part of the body means learning how to live healthily in community.

Staying connected to one another and to the Christ who has called us allows God’s grace, over time, to smooth our jagged edges and begin producing the spiritual fruits that both enliven the church and bring abundance and reconciliation to the larger world.

I think one of the reasons so many of us give up on this journey and its fullest promise is because we are easily disillusioned when we see others in the body falling short of the call.

In such cases, it can be tempting to focus on the other person’s deficiencies and sins, and once our focus is on the failings of others, we can too easily set ourselves up as judges instead of as fellow companions in the journey of baptism.

When churches prefer to judge one another and the world more than being about the spiritual and temporal work of living and sharing the redemptive gospel of Christ, then we are not much better than the scores of social clubs throughout the world—and potentially more dangerous, due to the righteous streak that can more readily overpower us.

One of the great gifts of this church, is that our focus has been fixed on trying to live the good news out, and doing so in a way that values and honors the individual gifts God has given us but understands their benefit to arise when they are shared among us and with the world beyond us.

Arise, shine!  For your light has come…

Even though the two of you will always have a home here at St. Paul’s, your lives will also be lived in places beyond here.

Do seek out and add your gifts to a church that privileges the authentic calling over the superficial stuff and commit yourself from this day forward to allowing God to refine and mold you through community engagement and commitment.

Learning how to balance life in community and the appropriate appreciation and usage of your individual and unique God-given talents takes a lot of work.

Loving your neighbor as yourself—which is one of the ways we express love of God—means seeing your life and your neighbor’s as connected.

Somedays God may be calling you to lift up your neighbor and privilege their wellbeing over all else.

Other days, God will be calling you to recognize your own gifts and to experience the truth that God loves you on a level that goes beyond what you can offer or how the world estimates your value.

Most days are a spiritual dance between these dual commitments, and that means that we are always trying to love our neighbor as ourselves in more authentic and tangible ways.

Regular prayer, regular worship in community, studying and soaking in Scripture, and active works of mercy and generosity are some of the best ways to keep this dance alive and flowing throughout our lives.

These tried-and-true practices both anchor us to the traditions and stories of our forebears and encourage us to be creative about responding to the Spirit’s urging in our own day.

How is God calling this mystical Body to share love and healing in our world today?

How is God calling you to use the unique gifts you’ve been given to spread the good news of reconciliation in a world that too easily chooses war and division over communion?

These are questions all of us are called to consider personally and communally, and as we consider them, we spend our time and energy doing our faithful best to live into the answers.

Today, God is opening the door to this baptismal life within Theonie and Akur.

But all of us who have been called into fellowship in this same Body have a chance to be refreshed and renewed in our own journey as the waters are once more stirred and the Spirit moves among us again.

Let us celebrate these new members fully today, and then let us join them, with God’s never-failing help and the witness of our ancestors, in serving and transforming this world as a community of faith, hope, and love.