(Note: I apologize that this does not lay out well. I cannot get it to do what I want it to do. ~DD+)
For the next two months we will be renewing our Baptismal Covenant during our Sunday worship. We do this, in part, because of today. Today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.
The first question is this:
Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
We all try so hard to live good lives, but each one of us can be seduced by things that keep us from our relationship with God. Some would call that “evil.” We all fall short. We all make mistakes. But this question is asking us to recognize when we make those mistakes, to apologize when we mess up and to come to Jesus to ask for forgiveness and strength to keep us from doing or acting in ways that might hurt others or ourselves and that create distance from God.
This is Evangelism at it’s finest. How we walk in the world as Christians, how we do business, how our ethics and morals are perceived by people are reflections of our faithfulness in God. Do we talk about our relationship with God? Do we live and act in ways that reflect our commitment to God? How we live and move in the world can show how we understand Jesus in the world. And it goes directly to the next two questions.
If we know that we are beloved children of God, do we recognize the
And the final question, which piggybacks on the previous, but puts a finer
point on it:
When we do the renewal of our baptismal covenant, we are given the opportunity to be reminded of what we believe, and we are given tools, through these five questions, to be reminded of how to live out that belief. But we recognize that we cannot do it without God. We need to depend on God’s grace to help us. We need to trust that our relationship with God will give us the ability to be more and do more than we might think possible.
For these next weeks, pay attention to this covenant, these promises you are making to God. Think about what it means to you that Jesus came into this world to save all of us sinners and how these promises can help you realign or change or adapt your understanding of yourself as God’s agent in the world. What chaff can you loosen from your good grain that will make you more able to live the life Jesus has modeled?
And as you think and pray on this, remember, that you, like Jesus, are a beloved child of God. Amen.
For the next two months we will be renewing our Baptismal Covenant during our Sunday worship. We do this, in part, because of today. Today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.
There are
many questions about Jesus being baptized, like, why did Jesus need to be baptized? But I wonder if his baptism is less
about him and more about us.
Think about
it. Why do we bring our babies and
children to be baptized? Why do people
who come to know Christ at different times in their lives choose to be baptized?
For years
that formal rite of baptism in the church was like a protection for a
child. It secured them as a child of God
in the eyes of the church. And in times
when infant mortality is high, this sometimes private and other times public
act of a family committing their child to God is like an insurance policy that
if the child dies, that child has a place in heaven with God.
But it seems
like many people are beginning to understand that God’s relationship with us does
not start with a rite. God is in
relationship from our beginnings. We don’t
have to do anything to be known by God.
So this
scene where Jesus is baptized by John in the river with a bunch of other people
marks a moment. What makes that moment
extraordinary is that God speaks to Jesus.
God says to Jesus, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased."
The thing
is, Jesus didn’t need God to say this to him.
Jesus already knew who he was and what he was on Earth to do. We need to hear God say this to
Jesus. But we don’t need to hear it so that
we know that Jesus is God’s son. We need
it to know that we are God’s sons and daughters and that we, like Jesus, are
beloved.
That’s
right. We are each beloved children of
God, and God is pleased with us. Just
like Jesus.
The
implications that go with that statement are huge, don’t you think? We are beloved children of our Creator, of
God.
Jesus was
born into this world to remind us of that.
The people had strayed far away from God, had forgotten that they were
God’s children. Those in power had taken
liberties to marginalize those who were not like them. The poor, those with disabilities, widows,
children, people who lived in other countries, or who had a different faith, or
who lived differently than they. Jesus
came into the world to change this.
Jesus came into the world to help us see our beloved-ness and to help us
learn how to take the gift that is our lives and live in ways that please God.
I know I
preached about this just a month ago, since part of today’s Gospel was also the
Gospel a few weeks ago, so bear with me as I remind us that the separation of
wheat from chaff is good and important.
That Jesus is going to help us recognize the chaff that prevents us from
being our authentic, beloved selves.
Remember, John is not saying that we are either wheat or chaff, but that
we are both. How we recognize the chaff
and how we remove it from our lives, revealing the healthy wheat within is what
he is describing.
So, I chose
to use the Baptismal Covenant, to give us the opportunity to be reminded of what
we believe in, through the words of the Apostle’s Creed and of the promises
made at our baptisms, so that we can look closely at ourselves and at our relationships
with God, and see where we can change and grow.
I believe
that when we renew this covenant and listen again to the questions, we might be
able to focus a little on the chaff that keeps us separated from living out our
love for God. AND we can rejoice through
these questions as we recognize ways in which we are living out our love for
God.
Renewing our
faith through the baptismal covenant is one of those moments in our liturgy where
we are given time to pause and consider who God is to us and recognize what we
might need to change or grow into or develop more fully to be more in communion
with God, and in return, with one another and the world.
After making
our belief statements through the words of the Apostle’s Creed I will ask five
questions.
The first question is this:
Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
This question is asking you to come to church, to your
faith community, to be in fellowship with others to learn about the Holy Trinity. To see how God worked in the world then and
how God continues to work in the world today.
To strive to learn how to live like the apostles—those imperfect people
who did their best to follow Jesus. To
come to the communion rail to be fed and renewed with bread and wine. And to be in relationship with God, Jesus and
the Holy Spirit through prayer.
Second,
I will ask this:
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin,
repent and return to the Lord?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin,
repent and return to the Lord?
We all try so hard to live good lives, but each one of us can be seduced by things that keep us from our relationship with God. Some would call that “evil.” We all fall short. We all make mistakes. But this question is asking us to recognize when we make those mistakes, to apologize when we mess up and to come to Jesus to ask for forgiveness and strength to keep us from doing or acting in ways that might hurt others or ourselves and that create distance from God.
Next,
I will ask:
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in
Christ?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in
Christ?
This is Evangelism at it’s finest. How we walk in the world as Christians, how we do business, how our ethics and morals are perceived by people are reflections of our faithfulness in God. Do we talk about our relationship with God? Do we live and act in ways that reflect our commitment to God? How we live and move in the world can show how we understand Jesus in the world. And it goes directly to the next two questions.
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
If we know that we are beloved children of God, do we recognize the
beloved-ness
of all the people we encounter every day?
Oh, this can be so
hard! Especially when we don’t fully understand why someone lives the way
they do or acts the way they act. We cannot imagine how some people
manage life so differently than we do. We sometimes think everyone should
or does live just like we do. And many do not. This promise we are making is
a reminder to think beyond our own experiences, beyond our own friendships
and consider that others are loved by God just as much as we are.
hard! Especially when we don’t fully understand why someone lives the way
they do or acts the way they act. We cannot imagine how some people
manage life so differently than we do. We sometimes think everyone should
or does live just like we do. And many do not. This promise we are making is
a reminder to think beyond our own experiences, beyond our own friendships
and consider that others are loved by God just as much as we are.
And the final question, which piggybacks on the previous, but puts a finer
point on it:
Will you strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
When we recognize
that we are all unique, beloved, creations of God, shouldn’t we hope for equity? Shouldn’t we stand up and speak up and even
act, when we see injustice or when we observe conflict? Respecting the dignity of every human being
does not mean every human should be the same, but instead, it recognizes our
differences. If we don’t understand
those differences, we should try to learn about them. It isn’t easy to step out of our comfortable
lives and into the unknown of someone else’s.
But we are invited to try.
The beauty of each of these questions is in our response to
them. To each we say, “I will, with God’s
help.”
When we do the renewal of our baptismal covenant, we are given the opportunity to be reminded of what we believe, and we are given tools, through these five questions, to be reminded of how to live out that belief. But we recognize that we cannot do it without God. We need to depend on God’s grace to help us. We need to trust that our relationship with God will give us the ability to be more and do more than we might think possible.
For these next weeks, pay attention to this covenant, these promises you are making to God. Think about what it means to you that Jesus came into this world to save all of us sinners and how these promises can help you realign or change or adapt your understanding of yourself as God’s agent in the world. What chaff can you loosen from your good grain that will make you more able to live the life Jesus has modeled?
And as you think and pray on this, remember, that you, like Jesus, are a beloved child of God. Amen.