RCL Baptism of Christ
12 January 2014
Saint Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver BC
‘What Is Baptism For?’
When I was in the early stages of my
doctoral studies, I was required to participate in a seminar on ‘Early
Christian Liturgy’. This course explored
the development of Christian worship from the second century of the common era
to the sixth century. One of the prayers
that has remained embedded in my heart and mind is a prayer attributed to Pope
Leo the Great who born around the year 400 and died in 461 after more than
twenty years as Bishop of Rome.
Leo’s times were not easy ones for
the Roman empire in western Europe.
Britain, once a province of Rome, had been abandoned to its own fate
with the withdrawal of Roman legions from the island. What we now know as Spain, Portugal, France,
Germany and Switzerland were coming under the control of local tribes and
peoples, some of whom had drunk deeply at the well of Roman civilization. Fiercely independent tribes were pushing
against the eastern borders of the empire.
It was not, as we say, the ‘best of times’ to be a Roman.
On top of the geo-political troubles
of the empire in western Europe, the Christian church, both in the east and in
the west, was in the midst of what we now call ‘the Christological
controversies’. These controversies all
centred around how Christians answered the following question: 'What is the relationship between Jesus of
Nazareth and the God of Israel?' I won’t
go into detail right now; after all, this is a sermon not a lecture on early
Christian doctrine! Leo, as Bishop of
Rome, was thrown into this swirl of conflict.
The prayer attributed to Leo is now
used at Christmas time and, in some traditions, it is recited when the
celebrant of the eucharist pours water to mix with the wine in the chalice
before the prayer of thanksgiving at the table.
Here’s what Leo wrote:
Almighty God,
who most wonderfully did create
and yet more wonderfully did restore
the dignity of human nature:
Grant that we might share the divine life
of the one who humbly shared our humanity,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In fifty-five
words (in English) Leo summarized the whole Christian story: creation by a loving God, redemption by a
humble Saviour and the hope of glory through the work of the Holy Spirit. We could print these words on a 3 x 5 card
and put them in our wallets and purses to pull out and read whenever we forget
who we are and who we are called to become.
When we celebrate the baptism of
Christ by John in the Jordan, we celebrate both God’s solidarity with humanity
and our solidarity with God. In his
baptism Christ chooses to identify himself with a humanity in need of
repentance, conversion and reconciliation.
In our baptism we choose to identify ourselves with the God who calls
all of humanity to repent of our selfish ways, to change our perspective on the
meaning of life and to become humble agents of God’s justice and compassion.
To be baptized is to participate in
Christ’s death and resurrection. [1] When we enter the waters of baptism, we die
to the old ways of self-centredness and identify ourselves with the One who
came to serve not to be served. We are
raised to a new life, not just the promise of a future life, but a life lived
in this world without fear and full of hope.
To be baptized is acknowledge that
we all fall short of the glory of God. [2] In our baptismal covenant we promise that we
will persevere in resisting evil and, whenever we fall into sin, that we will repent
and return to the Lord. [3] Believe it or not, these words are ‘good
news’. We live in a world where
individuals and peoples hold on to old wrongs, both committed and endured,
unable to believe that it is possible to lay them aside and find a new life
together.
To be baptized is to receive the
gift of God’s Spirit. [4] The first and most tangible gift of the
Spirit is the knowledge that we are children of God not orphans abandoned to a
cruel fate. The second gift is a new
perspective on the world: the world is
no longer a sign of God’s absence but rather ‘(the) heavens declare the glory
of God and (the earth) shows (God’s) handiwork’. [5]
To be baptized is to become a member
of the Body of Christ, the living community of men, women and children who throughout
the ages have born witness to God’s justice and compassion. [6] In a world in which many people live in
isolation, even in cities, the baptized form an ‘inside out’ community that
reaches out to those who are lonely and fearful. We become both the voice of those whose
voices are ignored and the arms of God embracing the whole creation. [7]
To be baptized is to become a sign
of God’s promised reign of justice and peace. [8] As I said in last week’s sermon, God’s plan
depends upon our witness to what God has done in and through Jesus of
Nazareth. This is why Anglican and Roman
Catholics will gather two Sundays from today for the first of a series of
gatherings intended to help us discover ways of making God’s love visible
despite our differences in theology and practice.
Too often Christians have wasted
their energies debating whether we baptize infants or adults, whether we pour
water or immerse, whether confirmation is necessary or not. On this day we set aside all those debates and
celebrate what baptism is for: In baptism we declare our solidarity with
God’s mission begun in creation, renewed in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus of Nazareth and continued through the work of the Spirit who leads us to
raise up things that have been cast down, to make new things that have grown
old and to bring to perfection all things through Christ. [9]
One of my historical theological
mentors once entered a baptismal fray in his century when the Church of England
was divided over the meaning of baptism. [10] He quoted a German phrase: Werde was du bist --- Become who you are. In baptism we recover our right minds, the
mind of Christ, so that we might share in the divine life in order that all of
humanity will know that God is for us not against us.
This is the vision that strengthened
Leo during the troubles of the fifth century.
This is the vision that strengthened Martin Luther in the sixteenth
century who, when struggling, was heard to say:
‘I am baptized.’ This is the
vision that strengthens us as we face the challenges of our times. May we, who have passed through the waters of
baptism, be found in the company of the One who passed through the waters of
Jordan to be at our side. Amen.
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