Baptism Check-in

Easter 7B; John 17:6-19; St. Paul's, 5/13/2018

Jim Melnyk: “Baptism Check-in”

So – we're gathered together this morning near the end of the Great Fifty Days of Easter – just one week away from the Feast of Pentecost.  Six weekends ago we celebrated Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.  We began our Easter celebration by renewing our Baptismal Covenant.  Next week, as we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost – as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit – God's gift to us all – we will once again renew those same Baptismal promises.

And so, as we stand in this moment of time between celebrations of resurrection life and the gift of God's Holy Spirit in our lives, I have a question for each of us.  How are we doing with our baptisms?  How are you – how am I – doing with those promises – with that covenant we proclaim so often at St. Paul's?

How's that baptism thing working for us?  When we find ourselves slogging our way through work or school each day – or sitting with family or friends at the dinner table – or resting in the solitude of being alone – how is our baptism going?  Now I don't know about you, but I find that an intriguing and tough question to answer – if I'm willing to dig a little bit into my life – if I'm willing to answer it truthfully.  How are we doing with our baptisms?  Are our promises – the promises we make in our Baptismal Covenant – are our promises shaping our lives?  Are those promises part of why you – part of why we – gather together each week?

If you're at all like me – and that's probably a good guess – your Baptismal Life might be a bit like a dirt road that hasn't seen a road grader in a few years.  There are certainly some smooth, easy-going spots that allow us to sail along at a good clip.  But there are also some potholes here and there that we strain to avoid – often able to make some quick course corrections, and just as often, it seems, catching us unawares with a jarring thud!  And then there are some areas that resemble a washboard more than a road – and we bump along with our teeth rattling in our skulls and our hands gripping the wheel firmly lest we lose control of our lives. 

Sometimes our baptism burns hot and strong – a blazing beacon of life for the world around us.  Sometimes it's more like a fire that's been banked – held in check by the world's disbelief – by our own disbelief – waiting to be rekindled by the fire of God's Holy Spirit in our lives.  And so I ask – how's your baptism going today?

In a passage from her book, Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott unknowingly describes my Baptismal Life quite well.  She opens by explaining how her “coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather like a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another.”  Sort of like hopping from one lily pad to another across her “swamp of doubt and fear.”  The Psalmist describes this swamp as the “desolate or miry pit.”  I know what those images evoke in me.  I know what “staggering toward faith” feels like for me – wrestling with self-doubt – the struggle with a world that that thinks it knows better, and that faith is just the stuff of fairy tales. 

Jesus, I think, knew what it meant to be “staggering toward faith” – whether through the lives of his disciples as they attempted to follow him on the road toward Jerusalem and the cross – or in the garden when he prayed, “if it's possible, let this cup pass from me...” – or even later on the cross when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Jesus, I'm sure, knew what it meant to find oneself “staggering toward faith,” all the while challenging the world's power to dominate and control people's lives.

I think this knowledge on Jesus' part is what led him to pray what we call the “High Priestly Prayer” in John's Gospel, a part of which we just read a few moments ago.  Jesus knows what his death will do to his disciples.  Jesus knows what following his clarion call to servant leadership will mean for all who would come after him.  Jesus knows that one's journey into faith always has been, and always will be, more of a stagger than a sure-footed leap.  And so Jesus prays for each of us who follow: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”  Asking God to sanctify us – to set us apart from the brokenness of the world – to bless and strengthen us in the truth of God's grace and love, so that we might not just participate in that grace and love, but also become messengers of God's love to the rest of the world.

So, whatever trail we're following on our journey of faith – however sure-footed or unsure it may seem at the moment – the question remains: how is our baptism today?  How well are we living into the promises and the commitment of our life in Christ?  Do we secretly, or subconsciously, cross our fingers whenever we recite the Baptismal Covenant?  How real for us, in all their glorious mystery and metaphor, are the stories of our faith?  How willing are we each to put aside the powerful “givens” of a world that refuses to follow the lead of our Servant God – the one whose power and authority are most clearly understood through acts of compassion, mercy, and love?

When someone asks us if we’ll will take on a ministry – whether it be with Christian Formation, the Vestry, or Stewardship – how's our baptism?  How does our baptism shape what we want – what our hearts desire for ourselves and for St. Paul’s – and then how does our baptism call us to make those desires – those dreams – a reality?    Or are we willing to let others carry the load by themselves?  How's our baptism going?

Singing the words of our Gospel Hymn today (603) – recognizing a world still divided by race, gender, class, and sexuality – how's our baptism going?  Do we feel called to help a world full of people stagger toward a faith that recognizes the image of God in every human being?  Do we feel called to help a world full of people stagger toward a faith that will work for justice and peace among all people, and recognize and celebrate the dignity of every human being?

Where do we need God's direction, God’s protection, and God’s grace that, as Jesus prayed, his joy may be made complete in our lives?  Where does the hope of our faith run head-long into the realities of life, causing us to stagger in our witness? 

Jesus prays his prayer for us, that we may not be fearful or timid, but followers of his way.  That we might become credible and fervent witnesses – credible and fervent options to the world's many overbearing “givens.”  Jesus prays his prayer for us that as God's new option –

as God's new hope – we might stand against a world given to domination, separation, and marginalization.  Jesus prays that we might stand as God's new option against a world given to power plays and fearful days – where so many fellow human beings are seen as expendable.  Jesus prays that we might stand as God's new option against a world given to a lack of compassion – a world given to a lack of God's justice – justice which is always rooted in forgiveness, in mercy and in love.

As we live out this option in our lives – as we witness to, and act upon, the call to follow Jesus – the empires of this world will tremble!  Because who we are, and how we choose to live our lives – our baptismal calling to follow Jesus – makes a difference in this world.  We can be a critical mass for God if we choose to be so!  Think of it – everyone from St. Paul's living for Christ every day – living for each other – living for a world of God's people – for all of God’s people – for those who can celebrate life every day, and those most often forgotten or ignored – and everyone in between. Sometimes so sure of the pathway before us, and sometimes staggering toward faith – but hopefully always with a surety that God is with us – and for us – and in us!

So, as we prepare to renew our baptismal vows next Sunday, I’d like to give all of us a little homework.  Over the course of the next seven days we have a chance to consider the question: How is it going with my baptism today?