Emody Me! (11:00 sermon)

Baptism Sunday; Rom. 8:14-17; Mark 10:13-16; St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC 11/6/16 

11:00 Service – Jim Melnyk: “Embody Me”

Earlier this morning we baptized Sylvan Glenn Lang, son of Caroline and Michael Lang.  As we come to this service hopefully we can be mindful of the many meanings behind the sacrament of baptism. But because Sylvan is the adopted son of Caroline and Michael, perhaps the words spoken by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans may have special power for us today.  Paul, whose words we just heard read, declares that in baptism we receive “a spirit of adoption,” and so “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!”

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 – and yet 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 – adopts us as children of God. 

Baptism reminds us of what it means to be chosen in love.  Earlier today we acknowledged a double adoption: as Sylvan Glenn has been adopted into his new household, so he has been adopted into the household of God in which we all have a share.

           

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

Our 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 echo words like Rilke’s as we renew our own Baptismal Covenant.  We will promise to flare up like flame when we seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.  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 own 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.   

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.

Every time we renew our Baptismal Covenant we are choosing to follow a God who says, “Don’t let yourself lose me…give me your hand!”  And it leads us to the question, “What are we getting into – and perhaps, what gets into us – in Holy Baptism?” 

We know life is challenging.  We know life is serious. We know that being a faithful follower of Christ is hard work.  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 – including each of us – into the world as the very hands, as the very voice and as the very heart of God.  Baptism sends us out as richly embodied expressions of Christ.

And all these things are things we desperately need to remember on the eve of such a contentious election season!  Who and how will be as morning dawns this coming Wednesday, when all the vitriolic stump speeches and campaign ads are over? 

The Good News is that we will all still be a part of the body of Christ gathered in this place – whether our favored candidates have won or lost.  We will still be the body of Christ beyond the red doors that mark our gathering place – witnesses to the love of God in a world that often seems to embrace isolation and violation more than the welcoming grace of God.  We will still be fellow citizens of our home towns, this state, and our nation – living and working side-by-side with other fellow citizens who don’t always agree with us – but whom we are still called to love as Christ loves us.

The Holy Spirit hovers over each of us, stirring the waters of baptism, longing to bring the promise of God alive not just in newly baptized 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?