THE MINISTRY
OF BAPTIZED CHRISTIANS
A sermon by
Rev. Richard Miller, Minister of Trinity United Church, Montreal, QC. November 2, 2003.
.
A few weeks ago William Willimon was in town to preach at
the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul – the Presbyterian Church downtown on
Sherbrooke Street. Then on Monday
morning he gave a workshop on preaching which I was able to attend. Will is the Dean of the Chapel at Duke
University in Durham, North Carolina, and also Professor of the Practice of
Ministry at the Divinity School there.
I first heard of him about 20 years ago when I read his little book on
baptism which is entitled Remember Who You Are. At the end of the Introduction – after he has expressed his
thanks to his family, parishioners, students, friends, and secretaries who were helpful when he was
writing this book, he says:
Thanks also to the late Reverend Grady Forrester who, on one hot,
summer Sunday afternoon in my dim past, took me in his arms, held me over a
silver bowl, poured water over my bald head, called me by name, and told me I
was a Christian. About thirty summers
later, in spite of what I have done and where I have been, that graceful water
still fills my shoes, those words still thunder in my brain, and I still answer
to that name - and it all came to me as a gift.
Down through the centuries, the church has had many
insights and understandings and teachings about baptism; and while some of them
may appeal to us more than others, or in particular circumstances, all of these
teachings have a time and a place – though we may need to take some of them
symbolically rather than literally. But
any of them may be meaningful to us at some time.
So let’s think of all these various teachings as being
something like a very generous buffet table with everything you can imagine on
it. When we go there, we don’t usually
stuff ourselves with everything on the table ( – at least I hope we
don’t). Rather, we take what we need at
the time – maybe even more than we need, and we leave the rest for someone
else. At another time, we may take
something different.
What I want to take from the buffet table this morning –
what I want to stress about baptism – are two “in” words. The first is inclusion, and the
second is incorporation. And I
will also say a few words about the ministry of baptized Christians.
First, inclusion.
Baptism affirms that we are accepted by God, and included among the
people of God. The theologian Paul
Tillich once said that all we have to do is “simply accept the fact that we are
accepted.” Baptism is an affirmation of
God’s acceptance of us. That God loves
us before we can love in return. That
Christ did not die for us when we were ready, but when we needed God’s
love.
So then, when we baptize a person – whether they be young
or old, we are affirming our faith in what God has done and continues to
do. We are claiming God’s promise for
the person being baptized, for parents, and indeed for all of us who are
gathered here in faith together. In
Jesus Christ, God has included us. All
of us. Everyone. God’s love is big enough to include all
people – and does. This morning we have
witnessed to how God has included Camille Senior. And not only her, but you and you and you and you and me – all of
us. And not only us, but all
people. We are all included in God’s
love. So then, let us remember our
baptism and be thankful.
So baptism is about inclusion, and it is also about
incorporation. It is about how we are
incorporated into the body of Christ.
If we think about the derivation of the word “incorporate,” we can
quickly see the root words “in” and
“corpus.” “In the body.” To incorporate is to make something or
someone a part of the body.
Sometimes people say that baptism is the door of the
church – meaning that it is the way we become part of the church, or
incorporated into it. And not only
through the imposition of water, but also through the faith of believers. There are some churches which emphasize this
by having their font or baptistery right inside the entry door. What a powerful reminder that can be that
baptism is the door to the church, and by baptism we are incorporated into
Christ’s holy church.
The title of Willimon’s book is Remember Who You
Are, and who are we? “Who we
are” is that we are the baptized. “Who
we are” are people for whom Christ died.
“Who we are” are people who strive – all of us imperfectly to be sure –
to embody Christ in our daily walk.
“Who we are” are the people God loves.
Then, we are called to “remember” who we are, and we
should understand that expression in two ways.
First is the usual sense that we use the word “remember”: baptism is a time to recall who we are. Regardless of whether we were baptized
because of our own faith and by our own choice as a youth or adult, or whether
we were baptized by virtue of the faith of our parents who brought us for
incorporation into faith and into the church – as Andy and Manon have done this
morning, let us remember our baptism and be thankful. Regardless of how it was that we came or were brought – even if
we have no recollection of it, let us remember what our baptism means and be
thankful to God for the gift of his love.
But there is also another way to use the word “remember”
and that is to put a hyphen between the “re” and the “member” so that we re-member
who we are. If we think of the
“members” of our body, then to “re-member” our baptism is for us to embody
it. For it to keep coming alive in us
so that it is evident who we are and whose we are – the people of God. To re-member our baptism means for the love
of God to be incarnate within us and among us.
It means for us to engage in the ministry of Christ – the ministry of
love and grace. Since we have
experienced God’s grace, we are gracious ourselves. Since we have experienced God’s grace – which we do not deserve
and cannot earn, we endeavour to be
people of grace – people who in our thoughts and our words and our actions are
characterized by that same grace – so that we reach out in love and care.
So then, let us re-member our baptism and be
thankful. And re-membering our baptism
doesn’t end when we are confirmed, but continues all through our lives.
Or let us think again of re-membering as the members of
the church. To re-member our baptism in
the fellowship of the church is for us to live out the promises that we made,
or that were made in our name. To re-member
is for the love of God to be “membered” here – to take shape as part of us, and
for that love to be at work in our midst.
It is for God’s love and grace and peace – and, yes, God’s justice too –
to be evident and manifest among the people of God when we are gathered and
when we are scattered. And so, again I
say, let us re-member our baptism and be thankful.
And yes, let us remember and re-member who we are and
whose we are. Let us not forget, and
let us embody the faith that is God’s gift to us – empowering us to be the best
people we can be. Living a life of
trust in God so that come what may, we know that we are God’s people, gathered
together to support and sustain one another, bearing one another’s burdens and
binding up one another’s wounds. And
then sent out to be God’s people wherever we are – living out our baptism in
trust and obedience each day.
Remember your baptism and be thankful, for this is who
you are. Amen.