Brother James Koester says:
“The truth of baptism is revealed in what it does and who it shows us to be,
cleansing us, not from dirt but from separation; separation from God,
separation from ourselves, separation from one another.”
In baptism, we are not made
God’s people; we have always been God’s people.
Baptism is when we turn to God and declare: Yes, God, we
are yours. The parents of those being baptized today—Kyle and Trisha;
Erin and Mike; Noah and Jessica--- you are saying: Yes, God, this child is not
ours, but yours.
So, what does it mean to be
God’s beloved child?
First and foremost, it means
we are washed in the living water---the water that frees us from our human
brokenness and empowers us to live into the new life of Jesus. Following Jesus
isn’t simply about being “good” and “nice.” Ultimately, it isn’t about being
perfect or not making any mistakes.
Following Jesus is about turning and realignment. Turning from our missteps and miscues and
realigning ourselves with Jesus. It’s
like when you’ve made a wrong turn and you hear the GPS: Recalculating. Today we have
the perfect opportunity to stop and realign as we renew our own baptismal vows.
God knows we are nothing but
ashes and dust, with a bit of God breathed into us, and due to that origin of
dust and ashes, this life of ours will get dirty, messy and fractured. That’s why we are given the gift of
forgiveness: Forgiveness, which isn’t simply saying I’m sorry. Forgiveness is living the I am sorry in such
a way that we make amends when we have wronged others; we stop acting in ways
that deny our connection to God and one another, and we ask for the Spirit to
empower us to choose differently, to live differently, to shine Jesus rather
than to cast shadows.
Cleansing us from our
separation from one another, forgiveness is about reconciliation--- the act of being
rebound to those from whom we have become separated. Our ties to one another
can be cut in so many ways. Whether we actively participate in systemic sin or
simply turn a blind eye to it, the animosity, fear, and indifference that gives
life to racism, bigotry, and economic injustice frays our common thread and
damages our connectedness to one another and to God.
Our every day words and
actions often destroy relationships. We
engage in toxic behavior without even really giving it much thought--- gossip;
name-calling and labeling; ignoring the elderly, the sick, the lonely; allowing
racial jokes to stand; telling ourselves we don’t have enough time to help;
believing we are more worthy than others; apathy, that dread dis-ease of
“whatever.”
Jesus stands outside these tombs of fear,
indifference, and ignorance that we have built; Jesus calls out to those whom
we have sentenced to something less than life, calling them from the tombs we have built into a full life. And Jesus calls to us who allow these tombs
to stand; Jesus commands us: Unbind them and let them go! Free them from the oppressive ties of our sin, their sin, and help them to know the abundance of life.
“Unbind them” is God’s call
to reconciliation---to participate in reknitting our attachment to all of God’s
other beloved children---even when we think those from who we are separated are
too different from us---even when we have deemed them unworthy----even when
they haven’t earned it or deserved it.
Because here is the Gospel
truth: Their freedom is our freedom. We
will only know true freedom from fear, from anxiety, from anger and
dissatisfaction when, like Jesus, we declare that the wholeness of all of
Creation and the betterment of every human being is the only way to our own
wholeness and our own betterment.
Recently, I have witnessed
this beautiful truth. Intercession
family member, Bobbie Joy Amann, comes to the Shalom Center each month. As a Shalom minister, she has an incredible
gift of meeting people just as they are.
Not expecting them to put on their best behavior—even though most of our
guests do just that---Bobbie Joy sees them first and foremost as someone to
whom she is connected. And she listens
to them with God’s ears; she sees them with God’s eyes. Instead of being separated by differences,
she begins from her common divine DNA with each of our guests. Living grace; amazing grace; grace that
resurrects. Being church.
I saw this again when this
family came together to host a wonderful community event. Okay, we might have gotten excited because it
was a fundraiser and our hope began with our own flourishing, but then this
incredible thing happened. Many hands
and minds and backs came together for all the various elements: providing the
ingredients; donating baskets and items for the silent auction; selling
tickets; buying tickets; getting the Parish Hall ready; putting the Parish Hall
back to rights; making food; serving food; welcoming guests----the young, the older,
newer members, long-term members, male, female, liberal, conservative---it
wasn’t our differences that mattered---it was our common goal, our common love
and passion to be the church family of Intercession Episcopal. AND, we had fun doing it. Some of us created new relationships, some of
us strengthened growing relationships---all of us were empowered and built up
by the presence and ministry of one another.
It was like the unfolding of the heavens right here at a Steak Fry.
Beloved, Jesus didn’t die for
your freedom. Jesus didn’t die for my
freedom. Jesus gave his life in the
ultimate act of sacrificial love for OUR FREEDOM. For our communal wholeness and holiness. And
the only way it can be extended is if you and I choose to participate in this
sacrificial love of Jesus.
Beloved, you cannot be made
whole without me; I cannot be made whole without you; and none of us can be
made whole when we allow for any one of God’s children or any part of God’s
creation to be deemed unworthy, to be cast aside and forgotten. Our wholeness only comes when all are restored
to their rightful place within this web of grace. And guess what? It isn’t up to us to decide who is in and who
is out. It isn’t our role to determine if another person has done what is
needed to be worthy of God. God has
already declared that all are worthy.
Our role is to live that truth.
The truth that all are worthy, all are wanted, all are valued by our
Creator, redeemer and sanctifier God.
All.
This water of baptism is about
resurrection. Dying to one way of life
in order to rise to a new life: the sacrificial life and love of Jesus. Recognizing
that we are bound to all others, and in that binding, we are made free and
whole, this is a life that can only be lived in community.
Baptism means we take our
place in this great communion of saints.
Saints, after all, are simply those who choose God because God uses any
human being who is willing to take part in God’s redeeming acts. Remember Scripture tells us: the first shall
be last and the last first; the poor, of all people, are blessed; the rich are
cursed by their possessions; prostitutes make great dinner guests; the lame,
the blind, the children, the leper and those with the least amount of social
status are at the top of God’s party guest list.
Beloved, we believe in and
worship a God who doesn’t celebrate a person’s piety or perfection, but, as
Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it, a God who gets “redemptive and holy things done in
this world through, of all things, human beings, all of whom are flawed.” [1]
Yes, every single human being
is flawed. We do not have much of a
problem accepting this. Harder for us to
believe is that every single human being---regardless of faith, race, gender,
sexual orientation, social status, economic status, health, political belief or
age---every single human being is loved, wanted, valued, and needed. Yes, even those on welfare, even the illegal
immigrant, even the criminal, the insane, the smelly addict, the dirty
homeless. Yes, I am talking about the
Muslim, the Jew, the Hindu, the Buddhist, the agnostic, the atheist. Your enemy, my enemy, America’s enemy. Every single human being is loved, wanted,
valued, and needed by God---and because we are God’s people---then every single
human being is to be loved, wanted, valued, and needed by us as well. We are connected and bound to them all.
This is the good news we are
called to share. This is the good news we are sent to live.
No exceptions. No outcasts.
No one left to the side of the road.
All are sinners; all are saints.
God’s a mystery. Get over
yourselves and get on with the light and love of Jesus. Beloved: let us live grace.
