Tag Archives: baptism

Homily – Acts 20.28-32, Robert Grosseteste, October 9, 2014

23 Thursday Oct 2014

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Today we honor Robert Grosseteste.  Robert was one of the outstanding English bishops from the 13th century.  Though he had humble beginnings in Suffolk, he rose to preeminence in the Church, distinguishing himself as a scholar in all branches of study:  law, medicine, languages, sciences, and theology.  He was appointed master of the Oxford School.  He was a theology professor and translated Aristotle’s works from the Greek, wrote commentaries on them, and sought to refute the philosopher’s views by developing a scientific method based on Augustine’s theories.  Because of Robert, Oxford began to emphasize the study of sciences – and many of his pupils became leaders.  In 1235, Robert was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln.  He was a very hands-on bishop, making a point to tend to the pastoral needs of his clergy and laity.  Those under his care really saw him as the shepherd of the Diocese.

In many ways, I think Bishop Grosseteste took to heart the instructions from Acts today.  “Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God …” says the lesson.  Robert was the consummate shepherd tending to his flock.  His regular visits to rural deaneries were not only to tend to pastoral needs, but also to questions of doctrine.  He knew, as Acts says, that “savage wolves” would come among his flock, and he tended and protected them as much as he could.

In some ways, we hear about bishops or those called to tend flocks, and we start to tune out.  The work from Acts sounds like the work of the clergy.  What we forget is that through our baptism, we are all given work to do.  We are all tenders of this community.  We take care of each other, we pray for one another, we visit the hurting in our community.  That is the work of the baptized. But Acts also says, “Keep watch over yourselves.”  What we sometimes forget is that we also need to confess when we need pastoral care ourselves; we need to remember that our own formation is ongoing – meaning we need to make sure we are consistently finding ways to grow in our faith.  If we do not care for our own spiritual well-being, we will find it much more difficult to tend to others’ spiritual well-being.

Luckily, as Robert knew and Acts affirms, God and the message of God’s grace is able to build us up.  This is the final reminder from Acts – that God will strengthen us through grace.  We can all be the pastors, the ministers that we become through our baptism – because God and God’ grace enables and continually invites us in to watch over ourselves and all the flock.  Amen.

On dignity…

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Today I drove by a pharmacy whose property is regularly peppered with “day laborers.”  I have yet to see someone actually out hiring people, but I imagine it must happen since every time I pass by, there are always 5 – 20 men standing around waiting.  Of course there are more men in the mornings and less in the afternoons.  But I consistently see men there, even in the late afternoons.  I have often wondered whether these men actually get hired at such a late hour, but their presence there leads me to believe that they must some days.

As I drove by the men gathered today, I was reminded of Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20.1-16).  The landowner goes out at nine, noon, three, and five, each time hiring men from the marketplace.  At the end of the day, the landowner gives a full day’s wages to all the men, regardless of how long each person worked.  The ones who work the longest grumble at how unfair the landowner’s actions seem, but the landowner scolds them for their disdain for landowner’s generosity.

What I have always liked about the parable is the way that the landowner sees the humanity in people – recognizes that even though someone did not get the opportunity to work, they may have wanted the dignity that work provides and the security that income can create.  I think we often forget the ways that our society strips people of dignity – either by creating barriers to earning a livable wage, by creating systems meant to help individuals without realizing how hard receiving help can be, or by simply reducing people into issues – “immigrants,” “refuges,” or the “homeless,” as opposed to persons known by name.  One of my new favorite blogs/Facebook pages is called “Humans of New York.”  A photographer collects photos of assorted people from New York and usually includes a quote or a short story about them.  I just love the glimpses into people’s lives – people you might never give a thought or glance to, but who have a story.

We promise in our baptismal covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being.”  I wonder what that looks like in your life.  Just this morning I ran across a video of a man who approaches a homeless man on the street – a person who is virtually ignored by every other person passing by.  The man asks if he can borrow the homeless man’s bucket, and at first the homeless man seems wary and concerned.  But to his surprise, the man uses the bucket and a couple of friends to create an impromptu moment of music, which leads to some extra cash that the man then gives to the homeless man.  Something about the video give me a glimpse into what we mean when we talk about dignity – all three “helpers” sit with the man, they make him a part of something beautiful, and then they let him live in peace.  But especially they seem to be saying, “I see you.  You are not alone.  You are a person and I honor your dignity.”  How might you respect the dignity of every human being today?

The community of faith…

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

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My oldest daughter attends a Lutheran preschool.  During the summer the school runs a camp that is more play-based.  What our family loves is that they keep the religious content present in both programs.  What I especially enjoy is discovering my daughter singing a religious song that I remember from childhood, but have not yet taught her myself.  Last week it was “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart…”  When I shouted out in response, “Where?!?” she started laughing.  Then I told her how her father knew the same song in Spanish, since he had learned it on a mission trip in high school.  All of a sudden the room was filled with bilingual singing about the love of Jesus being in our hearts.

What my daughter’s singing reminded me of is how dependent we are upon the community of faith to raise up our children.  Many of you may be thinking, “She’s a priest.  Does her daughter really need anyone else to teach her stuff about God?”  The answer is an emphatic, “Yes!”  Though my vocation involves teaching and preaching, it is the community of faith combined with our efforts at home that will expose our children to and reinforce for them the love that God has for them.  I cannot do it alone.

This past Sunday, our youngest daughter was baptized.  The bishop asked us and her godparents if we would be “responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life.”  We responded by saying “I will, with God’s help.”  But the bishop also asked the congregation gathered, “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child to grow into the full stature of Christ?”  Their response was the same.  I came away from the baptism feeling deeply appreciative of the fact that we have a community of people who have committed to helping us raise our child to know the love that God has for her and to help her live into Jesus’ life and example.  It was a deeply affirming and encouraging experience for us all.

That is the joy of belonging to a Christian community.  Though we all have individual responsibilities, we also regularly acknowledge how none of us can do this alone.  The community of faith comes together to raise us up, encourage us in doubt, comfort us in suffering, and then partner with us in raising our children.  I am grateful today for the blessing of Christian community both in my life and now in the lives of my children.  Thanks be to God!

Sermon – Matthew 3.13-17, E1, YA, January 12, 2014

16 Thursday Jan 2014

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Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus.  All three synoptic gospels have an account of Jesus’ baptism, but Matthew’s version that we hear today is the only one that has a dialogue between the John and Jesus.  Though there is debate about why the conversation is present in Matthew’s gospel[i], I find much more interesting the content of their conversation.  When Jesus comes to John to be baptized, John tries to prevent Jesus from doing so, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  Jesus responds to John, by saying, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

John has been out in the wilderness for a while now, and has been preaching all along about the Messiah.  I imagine he has a pretty set idea of who this Messiah is how the Messiah will behave.  So, when Jesus comes, asking John to baptize him, John pushes back.  We are not sure exactly what John expects Jesus to do or say, but we can tell by the way he actively tries to prevent Jesus from being baptized that Jesus’ actions do not fit in John’s mental image of how things are supposed to go.  In fact, John feels so strongly that he does not just protest or argue with Jesus.  The text says John tries to physically prevent Jesus from being baptized.

What I love about this interaction is how very human and familiar John’s response to Jesus is.  I can think of hundred of times we have equally tried to get in Jesus’ way.  We couldn’t possibly invite our unchurched friend to church because we have heard their tirades about religion and those who go to church.  We cannot imagine going on a foreign mission trip because we cannot get the time off, we don’t speak the native language, we love hot showers too much, or mission trips just simply aren’t our thing.  We refuse to take our problems up with God in prayer because we think we can solve the issue on our own, that God is too busy for our minor issues, or we have yet to hear the answer we want from God.  We cannot possibly take on that new ministry invitation because we do not have the time, we cannot imagine what good the ministry will do, or we just simply do not like change.  Like John the Baptist, over and over again we prove ourselves to be experts in attempting to prevent Jesus from doing something in our lives.

When we were preparing for Church in the fall, we shared several videos on our Facebook page meant to spark some thought and conversation about how we invite people to church.  Most of the videos were funny, using satire to highlight our discomfort with inviting others to church.  My favorite is one where two guys meet in their yards after church.  One has his Bible in his hand, having just returned from church.  The other is working in the yard, tending his garden.  As the two chat, you can hear the inner monologue of the gardener, wondering why his neighbor never asks him to go to church.  He even admits, in his thoughts, that he would totally go if he were invited.  But instead, the best the churchgoer can do is to invite his neighbor over for lunch.  You can see the disappointment in the neighbor, but how both men try to skirt the issue.  Essentially the churchgoer prevents his neighbor from feeling truly welcome to church.

To John, and to us, Jesus’ response is simple.  Jesus basically tells John, “Just trust me and do this now.”  Jesus does not explain why John must get out of the way or how baptizing him will somehow fulfill all righteousness.  Jesus does not tell John what will happen when Jesus is baptized.  Jesus does not even really offer reassuring words.  To this dearth of reassurance, how does John respond?  The text simply says, “And John consented.”  But more fascinating than John acquiescing is that John really does have a choice.  Like Moses, Samuel, Mary, and Joseph, God always offers the choice to respond.  There is always the choice of saying no.  I am reminded of the story of Naomi and her daughters-in-law.  She gives them the choice of returning to their homelands when her sons, their husbands, die.  Orpah chooses to go home; Ruth chooses to stay with Naomi.  That is the beauty of our relationship with God – the affirmation of our freewill and the mutuality of the relationship is always present.

Today, like we do multiple times during the year, the Church will invite you to make a choice in your relationship with God.  We turn back to our own baptisms and we reaffirm the choices that were first made on our behalf, but we have now promised for ourselves every time we renew our baptismal vows.  Those promises include proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ, seeking and serving Christ in all persons, and striving for justice and peace.  Those promises are not promises the church created from its own imagination.  Those promises come out of invitations from Jesus’ life and ministry.  Like Jesus asked John to just trust him and act, so Jesus invites us to trust him and act through our own baptism.  Our invitation is to be a people who consent.

Now some of you may be like John, Mary, or Joseph who receive a challenging invitation from God and respond with a hearty, “Here I am Lord,” or a simple consent.  Others of you may be more like Samuel, who hear God’s invitation but do not quite understand the invitation – like when Samuel goes to Eli in the temple multiple times thinking Eli is calling him in the middle of the night instead of God.  Or maybe you identify more with Moses – who argues with God in myriad ways, trying to convince God to ask someone else, anyone else, to take on God’s invitation.

Luckily our baptismal vows give us some clue about how we can manage to consent to God.  “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?” is the question you will hear today.  The more you steep yourself in Scripture and the fellowship of this community, the more you will be empowered to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ.  The more you consume the body and blood of our Savior, the more you will be able to see and then serve Christ in others.  The more you immerse yourself in a life of prayer, the more you will find opportunities for striving for justice and peace among all people.  Today you choose, you consent, to live your life within the community of faith – and that choice will have an impact not just on you, but on others.  But Jesus cannot do the work alone.  The choice is yours to consent.  Amen.

[i] Troy A. Miller, “Exegetical Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. A., Vol. 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), 239.

Sermon – Luke 12.49-56, P15, YC, August 18, 2013

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Once upon a time, I lived in a world where there was such a thing as a “normal family.”  These were the families who could sit around a dinner table and have a pleasant conversation, who never had a disagreement, who never had to deal with passive aggressive behavior, and whose dealings could be taken at face value without any hints of ulterior motives.  In this world, people were happy, holidays were perfect, siblings loved each other, and marriages were unbreakable.  Laughter was pervasive, love overflowed, and peace ruled the day in this world.  And since my life did not resemble this world, surely I would find a life partner whose world was like this.  Surely there would be a way to escape my own reality to find that world where the “normal family” existed.

Of course, once that notion crumbled, I created a new one.  Then I lived in a world where there was such a thing as a “conflict-free church.”  This church was one where people welcomed others warmly, where the love of God poured out of every parishioner, where every meeting unfolded in a peaceful, consensual manner, and where everyone felt at home.  In this church, the people all lived Christ-like lives, and they were so focused on serving others that they never fell into serving themselves.  In this church there was no judgment, no division, and no central source of power.  At this church, people were happy, worship was beautiful, and money was never a concern.  Surely such a church existed, and so if my church was not this way, I would find that “conflict-free church” somewhere.

Jesus takes a blowtorch to these make-believe worlds I envisioned in today’s gospel.  Jesus says, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled…Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division!”  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus,” many of us may want to say today.  I thought Jesus was the Prince of Peace – in fact the same person whose name we invoke when we greet one another with, “The peace of the Lord be with you.”  Today’s Jesus is not the sweet, peaceful Jesus in a manger.  Jesus denies peace altogether today and instead rolls out a campaign of conflict.  There is no peace-loving church today.  In fact, Jesus even goes on to say how he will be turning family members against one another.  Father against son, mother against daughter, in-laws against in-laws:  families will be divided against one another.  Not only do we lose the dream of a “conflict-free church” today, any hope of a “normal family” without pain or strife is obliterated today too.

Of course, what is most painful about this gospel lesson today is that we already know the gospel to be true.  What person here today has not faced conflict within their family?  For the lucky among us, that conflict may eventually pass and familial love is relatively easy.  But for pretty much anyone who has had an honest and frank conversation with me, I do not know one single family who has not been touched by divorce, pain, cutoff, abuse, rivalry, anger, manipulation, or division.  Conflict is not the anomaly – conflict is the norm in our families.  And if church is anything like a family, we have known bitter conflict in church too.  Some of us have left churches because of conflict, pain, or suffering.  Most of us have known conflict here in this place – and if we have not yet, we will.  Why this gospel lesson is so hard today is because this gospel holds up a mirror – a mirror to our broken lives, our broken world, and our broken church.  And quite frankly, most of us do not come to church to look in a mirror; or if we do imagine church as a mirror, we hope the mirror is like one of those carnival mirrors that can distort our broken worlds and reflect something much more beautiful or hopeful than the reality we know.

Despite all the seemingly bad news in today’s gospel, some of Jesus’ words reach out to us in hope:  “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed.”  The idea of Jesus’ baptism not being completed has been bouncing around in my head all week.  In the early days of the church, fonts were not the pretty, upright fonts we see now that hold a beautiful bowl of baptismal water.  Fonts were more like pools, with steps leading down and steps leading up on the other side.  The person to be baptized would walk down those steps, be fully immersed in the water, and the come up for air again as they emerged from the water and walked up the exit steps.  The symbolism was rich – baptism looked like the emergence from the watery birth canal, and baptism rightly lived into the name “new birth.”  But also weaved into the symbolism is journey – a journey from a former life, into a watery chaos (not unlike the chaos from which God created the earth), and emerging a new creation and a transformed person.

The idea that Jesus’ baptism is not yet complete somehow makes sense when we think of baptism as a journey.  In the midst of all this talk about conflict and division, Jesus is giving us a picture of what living a baptized life is like.  At our baptism, we make promises – to turn away from sin time and again – and to turn into the way of baptized life – seeking and serving Christ, loving neighbor as self, and striving for justice and peace.  The image of Jesus’ baptism not being complete gives some grounding to what all this conflict and division is all about.  The conflict and division is a necessary component to completely live into our baptismal covenant.  We say that when we fall into sin – not if we fall into sin – we will turn back toward the Lord.  The journey of baptism promises then that we will not have a peaceful, conflict-free road and that our baptism in not a once and for all activity.  Baptism is a journey, of fully living into those baptismal promises, in which the challenging stuff will shape and mold us into better disciples and better servants of Christ.  Jesus knows that our baptism journey will never be one of peace – at least not the superficial peace we long to have.  Our baptism journey will be one of division.  That division will not only be because conflict is a necessary part of life, but because the radical way of Jesus can only be achieved by walking through the watery chaos of baptism – a chaos full of conflict and division – but a journey in which we emerge transformed and renewed.

Once upon a time, I encountered a world where conflict was not a curse word.  In this world, conflict was not an uncomfortable experience to be avoided, but a challenging experience that led to new growth and new life.  In this world, everyone was not happy in a superficial, cheerleader kind of way.  But people were happy in a much deeper, rooted kind of way.  In this world, families still fought, but the fighting led them somewhere new and life-giving.  In this world, parishioners grew to expect conflict – but also grew to expect transformation.  In this world, conflict was not the end of relationship, but instead the tool that drug people through rough times into times of unknown joy and peace.  This is the world that I long to inhabit.  This is the world that gives us life.  This is the world that leads to new birth.  Our invitation today is to step into the watery chaos of division and conflict, so that we might emerge a faith community on the baptism journey.  Amen.

Sermon – Luke 3.15-17, 21-22; Isaiah 43.1-7, E1, YC, January 13, 2013

16 Wednesday Jan 2013

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A few months ago, the Vestry and I did a spiritual exercise.  We drew a straight line on a piece of paper, dividing the line into either five- or ten-year increments.  Then we drew dots above and below our line, marking major life moments.  The happy ones went above – births, marriages, graduations.  The sad ones went below – deaths, divorces, bouts of depression.  We connected the dots and saw what looked like a hilly landscape – with peaks and valleys.  Then, we took a different colored pen, and we mapped the highs and lows in our relationship with God – times when we felt close to God and times when we felt far from God.  That line too was filled with peaks and valleys.  Some of us found that two the lines moved together – when happy things were happening in our lives, we felt very close to God; when difficult things were happening, we felt distant from God.  Others had the opposite experience.  In the difficult times, they felt God’s presence the most, and while in happy times their connection to God lessened.  Each of us began to see that our spiritual life and our everyday life are connected, perhaps in unexpected ways.

What was interesting about all of our graphs was that all of us had times in the middle – where nothing dramatic was happening, and our relationship with God was pretty neutral – not particularly strong, but also not particularly distant.  Those were the times when life was simply ordinary – where life just chugged along.  Nothing remarkable stood out in that time, and that was okay.

Sometimes when we look at Jesus life – this God incarnate who took on flesh like ours – we begin to wonder if Jesus’ life is anything like ours.  If you step back and recall the lectionary texts we have heard since Christmas Eve, you might begin to wonder if Jesus’ life is not some action-adventure movie.  First he is born dramatically in manger; then we hear of fantastic angels and visiting shepherds; then John’s majestic words proclaim, “In the beginning was the Word…”; and then we hear the vivid story of the magi seeking and finding Jesus.  Today, some years later, we hear of Jesus’ baptism – yet another extraordinary event in which the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus proclaiming him to be the Son of God.  To be honest, for a man who is supposed to be God incarnate, who is supposed to experience this world as we do and through that experience redeem us, Jesus’ life feels very little like ours.  We cannot imagine someone telling our life story and finding nearly as many dramatic tales and mountain-top experiences.  And yet, this is the way we hear about Jesus – drama, drama, drama!

What we miss in our gospel’s retelling of Jesus’ life is the ordinary.  There are all sorts of gaps in the story that we never really get to see.  Though we imagine the magi coming to the manger, in fact, Jesus was probably no longer an infant when they finally arrived.  And yet, we hear no details of the time between shepherds and wise men.  Then, after these magi do arrive, we find ourselves suddenly with an adult-version of Jesus today.  Luke’s gospel does give us an account of the pre-teen Jesus in the temple, scaring his parents with his disappearing act; but otherwise, we know very little about the ordinary time of Jesus’ life.  The omission of the ordinary can make us feel distant from Jesus.  Unlike our spiritual maps, Jesus’ map would be one long plateau of highs where the everyday and the spiritual are constantly in sync, without many low valleys.

Luckily, there is much more incarnation today in our texts than there seems to be at first glance.  The way that Luke tells Jesus’ story today makes Jesus’ baptism quite ordinary.  He is baptized along with many other people.  He is not first in line, and the world does not stop at the moment of his baptism.  In fact, when the Holy Spirit does descend upon Jesus, Jesus’ baptism is over, and he is found praying – another ordinary spiritual practice we do almost everyday.  Then, Jesus hears those wonderful words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased,” By simply having those words spoken, we see that the incarnation is a fleshy, human experience.  Jesus needs to hear those words just like any of us need to hear those words from God.[i]  Jesus needs to know God’s approval, God’s love, and God’s claim on him – needs that we all experience.

Of course, Jesus is not the first person who needed to hear that loving approval.  We also hear today of God’s love and care for the people of Israel in our passage from Isaiah.  As a people in exile, who have suffered a great deal and who may wonder if they will ever find favor with God again, we hear this lovely passage for them.  God’s words for Israel are a healing salve, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you…  You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you…”  These are words we long to hear throughout life:  certainly in those valleys of our spiritual timeline, but honestly, even in the highs and in the normal time.  We are all riddled with insecurities and doubts, and we long for the kind of love that can love us no matter what.  We need to know that we are fully accepted – something that other humans can rarely express.  As one pastor says, “Our sense of belonging comes not from the acceptance of our peers or the status of our communities but from the One who claims us and will never let us go.  What makes us worthy is…God’s gracious love.”[ii]

I love you.  You are my beloved.  With you I am well pleased.  These are words that we need to hear no matter where we are on that up and down journey of our spiritual life.  And these are words that even Jesus needs to hear.  That this affirming love comes at Jesus’ baptism is no surprise.  In the waters of baptism, “God seals God’s love for us, no matter what we might have done and what might happen.  In the waters of our baptism, God gives evidence of what God says to Jesus…  ‘You are my [child], the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”[iii]

But like the fact that we need to hear over and over again that we are loved, we also need to remember again and again our baptism:  that time when we, as beloved children, covenant together to fully love all God’s children.  Throughout the Church year, we reaffirm our baptismal covenant because we need the reminder that not only are we beloved children of God, but also we are beloved children who behave a certain way:  proclaiming the Good News, seeking and serving Christ, and striving for justice and peace.

After Jesus’ baptism and the proclamation that he is beloved, Jesus goes out into the wilderness to be tempted.  This will be the first of many trials for Jesus.  But Jesus holds on tightly to his beloved status – the rock that helps him seek, serve, and share during his lifetime.  We too hear those words from God afresh today:  I love you.  You are my beloved.  With you, I am well pleased.  Now go out there and love as I love you.  Amen.

[i] P. C. Enniss, Jr., “The Power of Approval,” Journal for Preachers, vol. 32, no. 3, Easter 2009, 15.

[ii] W. Carter Lester, “Pastoral Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Yr. C, Vol. 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009),222.

[iii] Lester, 222.