Immersing Ourselves in Christ
Reflections on Luke 3.15-17, 21-22
RCL Baptism of the Lord C
13 January 2019
Holy Trinity Cathedral
New Westminster BC
Luke 3.15-17, 21-22
3.15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Immersing ourselves in Christ
In 1977 I accepted an appointment to teach German and French at Regis High School, a Jesuit secondary school for boys in northeast Denver. Because I freely admitted that my abilities in French were in need of improvement, the Principal of the school arranged for to participate in a week-long program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The program was specifically designed to help teachers who, like me, found themselves required to teach two modern languages and who needed to improve their skills in their weaker language.
For a week I was immersed in the French language and culture. The experience reinforced the excellent teaching I had received as an undergraduate at the University of Denver and I know that it made me a better teacher for the year I spent at Regis. I have to admit that I still harbour some feelings of guilt for the quality of instruction I gave to my French students that year.
Here in British Columbia French immersion is one of the fastest growing programs in the public school system. More and more people are recognizing that immersion is still the best way to learn about a language and culture. We know from various educational studies that children can become rapidly and fluently bilingual when a given language is used in a given context, such as English at home, French at school or one parent speaking one language consistently with the children and one parent the other language. Every once and a while I toy with the idea of my car and office becoming French-only radio zones.
Immersion is not only about language. Immersion is about culture as well. In the first centuries of the Christian movement, baptism was celebrated by the complete immersion of the candidate in the waters of the font and by the use of large quantities of oil to anoint them. To become a Christian began with an immersion in the ‘language’ and ‘culture’ of the Christian movement and then celebrated by the physical immersion of the candidate in water and oil. In today’s culture and society recovering the image of immersing ourselves in Christ is, I think, a necessary commitment every congregation needs to make.
Stability
Archbishop Melissa, early in her episcopate, asked every member of the clergy to read Esther de Waal’s Seeking God. This compact book is an exploration of the Rule of Saint Benedict, one of the most influential spiritual texts in the western Christian tradition. Although it is not always evident to the casual eye, our own Anglican way of life has been deeply influenced by the Benedictine movement, especially in our emphasis on the link between common prayer and working for the common good.
One of the most important commitments a Benedictine monk or nun makes is the vow of stability, a promise to remain a member of the community for the rest of one’s life unless there is a clear call to move elsewhere. Some of Benedict’s strongest language is directed towards what I might call spiritual gadflies who move from place to place hoping to find the perfect teacher and the perfect community. If anyone wants to immerse themselves in Christ, then the best way to do this is to find a community and stay there through good times and bad, through fertile times and droughts, through successes and failures.
In the almost forty years since I was ordained I have met many people who wander from community to community, from congregation to congregation. Sometimes the reasons for their wandering are good ones and then there are those who are those whom I might describe as ‘spiritual Goldilocks’ finding one place too hot, another too cold and never seeming to find a place that’s ‘just right’.
But immersing ourselves in Christ requires stability not vagrancy. And stability itself is a way of learning how to be fully alive in Christ in the midst of that wonderful and maddening diversity we call humanity.
Obedience
Another promise made by a Benedictine monk or nun is obedience to the abbot or abbess of the community. Obedience is not a word used frequently in twenty-first century Canadian life, partly because we have don’t often think about what the word means.
At the root of our word ‘obedience’ is the Latin word ‘audire’ --- ‘to listen’ or ‘to heed’. To obey is to listen, not just to hear, but to listen and to heed. Listening and heeding are not activities where we check our brains at the door. Listening and heeding require us to discern what is being said and to connect it to what we know about ourselves and about what we believe God in Christ is calling us to be and to do.
Some years ago I was leading a study conference for the clergy of the Diocese of Moosonee. The weather was beautiful and, during one of the breaks, I sat near the edge of a lake simply listening and watching. I watched as two damselflies laid their eggs in the stalks of the tall grass bordering the lake. I learned later that the flies are a harbinger of winter because they unfailingly lay their eggs just above where the snow line will be. I doubt that I moved much for more than an hour watching and listening.
Stability gives us a platform for obedience, for listening and heeding. Here we listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church, to us, not only in the words of the Scriptures but in the words of the lives of those sitting next to us in the pew, those who come to our Thursday breakfast, those who use our hall during the week. Here we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us as a word or a phrase in a prayer stimulates our own reflection on the mystery of God in our lives.
Conversion
We immerse ourselves in Christ through stability and through obedience in order to achieve one simple yet challenging purpose: our conversion into disciples and friends of Christ. Conversion is a life-long process with steps forwards and steps backwards. Conversion requires the stability of a community that loves us enough to help us and an obedience that is always listening to and heeding the Word that comes to us, spoken and unspoken, that invites us to become more fully human, more fully Christ-like.
Conversion can be spectacular and accompanied by spiritual fireworks or a quiet and abiding insight into how God is at work in us and in the world. Conversion, more often as not, comes as a surprise when we realize how our perspective on the world, on our friends and neighbours, on ourselves has grown. Conversion is those moments when we are so immersed in Christ that we cannot help but do what Jesus would do.
Becoming who we are
Dear friends, we have been buried with Christ in baptism, so that we may rise with him to a new life. Let us renew the promises we made in baptism.
Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ? I do.
Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? I will, with God’s help.
Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? I will, with God’s help.
Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ? I will, with God’s help.
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself? I will, with God’s help.
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.
Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth? I will, with God’s help.
God our creator, the rock of our salvation, has given us new birth by water and by the Holy Spirit, and bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sins, through our Lord Jesus Christ. May we remain ever faithful to our calling through Christ our Lord, who with our Creator and the Spirit, lives and reigns, God for ever and ever. Amen.
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