The Baptism of Sylvan Glenn; Rom. 8:14-17; St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC 11/6/16 Jim Melnyk: “Embody Me

Today we are mindful of the many meanings behind the sacrament of baptism, but none more so than the words spoken by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, having just heard his words read, who declares that in baptism we receive “a spirit of adoption.”  Paul reminds us that “when we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” 

Think about it – the very God who spangled the heavens with stars chooses at a specific moment in time to take on human flesh and become one with us in the person of Jesus, who knows what it means to have loving, faithful, and compassionate parents.  Jesus, whose image of God is like that of a loving Father, inspires Paul, who then invites us to join with him in crying out to God, “Abba!  Father!”

And as God comes upon us from what seems like so great a distance – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God – as distant as that seems – that same Word becomes flesh and chooses to dwell among us – chooses to take us by the hand – and chooses to lead us into the very heart of God. 

You, Michael and Caroline, traveled a great distance to Kentucky for the birth and adoption of Sylvan Glenn.  You met with wonderful, supportive birth parents, Alex and Tim, and their family.  You had to sojourn there for a time waiting for all the legalities of two states regarding adoption to get sorted out, all the while bonding with your son – and then you took Sylvan Glenn in your arms and brought him home.  Caroline and Michael, you, along with all of us as faithful witnesses of the vows you will make this day, have an opportunity to bring alive that incredible image of being adopted into the family of God. 

In the years to come the faithful act of choice on Caroline’s and Michael’s part will teach their son and remind us what it means to be chosen in love.  Today we acknowledge that double adoption: as Sylvan Glenn has been adopted into their household, so he is adopted into the household of God in which we all have a share.

As the waters of Holy Baptism stream across his brow, tracing both his name and the name of Christ along its path, we remember that he is a child of God created in the very image and likeness of the God who claims him.  As he is anointed with chrism we recall that through the waters of Holy Baptism he, like each baptized person present today, is sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.

In just a few minutes, once the baptismal party has gathered around the font, we will rehearse words that we have said many times in this place and in other places like it –

we will renew our own baptismal covenant, and we will remember all that the water of Holy Baptism symbolize for us in our faith – so many of the times and places where God’s grace has been made known to us. 

We will recall the waters that covered the earth at the dawn of creation – as the Ruach – as the Spirit, or breath, or wind, from God hovered over the deep.  We will recall how God, through the prophet Moses, led God’s people through the waters of the Red Sea, out of slavery and into freedom.  We will remember Jesus, baptized by John in the river Jordan – a baptism that recalls our need always to return to God.

Coming to the waters of Holy Baptism has been likened to our souls being touched not just with the cool tracing of water, but by the Spirit’s flame as well.  The poet Rilke seems to have intuitively grasped the meaning of baptism when he writes:

“Embody me.

Flare up like flame

And make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going.  No feeling is final.

Don’t let yourself lose me.”

But the poet doesn’t leave us there – he doesn’t let us get lost from God.  Rilke challenges us to live as though we embody the Divine – challenges us to move out into the world embodying our baptisms.  He concludes:

“Nearby is the country they call life.

You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.”

In just a few moments we will promise to flare up like flame when we seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor like ourselves – an incredibly challenging promise in the midst of our yearly forays into the partisan bickering we call election campaigns.  We will make big shadows for God to move in when we do our best with God’s help to respect the dignity of every human being and seek justice and peace for all humankind – a challenging promise in a world where religious tensions are high, where suspicions of the “other” are fanned almost daily, and where gun violence is reported on the news with the regularity of baseball box scores. 

We will challenge one another to live faithfully in the communion of the church, to recognize not just the beauty of this world, but the terrors of our brokenness – realizing that by the grace and love of God even our worst experiences of brokenness are never final – are never beyond forgiveness and our return to God.   

In fact, today in the midst of asking Sylvan Glenn to grow up opening himself to what it means to embody God, we are reminding one another of that same charge as we prepare to renew our baptismal vows.  Flare up like flame!  Make big shadows that God can move in – big shadows that enfold us in the presence of God and allow us to make the presence of God known in this world.

As we stand at the baptismal font, or pose for photos afterward, we will be inclined to think, “How sweet!” or, “And he didn’t even cry!” (We hope).  But as Rilke’s poem and our baptismal covenant make clear – what we do here today is anything but sweet and serene at its roots.  It leads us to the question, “What are we getting into – and perhaps, what gets into us – in Holy Baptism?” We know we life is challenging – we know it is serious.  But we are choosing every time we renew our Baptismal Covenant to follow a God who says, “Don’t let yourself lose me…give me your hand!”  And we know that as people of faith we cannot set aside our Baptismal Covenant when we enter the public arena. To lay aside our most treasured beliefs in the teachings of Jesus because they conflict with how we want to act is to profess our faith with fingers crossed.

Baptism plunges us neck deep into the fullness of God, and calls us to a life of faithful service to God and God’s world.  Baptism is a sending forth of God’s people into the world as the very hands, as the very voice and as the very heart of God – sends us out as richly embodied expressions of Christ.

The Holy Spirit hovers over each of us, stirring the waters of baptism, longing to bring the promise of God alive not just in Sylvan Glenn’s life, but in our lives as well.  Dip your fingers into the font as you pass by to or from the Holy Table if you dare – would you see God’s Spirit set free within, having renewed your own baptismal covenant?  Are we willing to take that risk?

God’s love is seal is upon our brows, and God’s love is etched upon our hearts.  In the end we cannot lose God because God moves with us in the big shadows, and God moves with us in the tiniest of moments.  God takes us by the hand and sojourns with us.  Where does God want to go with you – today?