1 Epiphany Yr C Baptism of Our Lord

Remember your baptism! Remember each day who we are, and whose we are, and how beloved we are. Many, if not most of us cannot remember the actual day of our baptism, but whether we can remember our baptismal day or not is less important than whether we can remember that we too are blessed and beloved. We too are blessed and beloved. God has interrupted our lives to show us that we are blessed and beloved.

What if we lived our lives every day believing this truth? We are blessed and beloved. This is our identity. This is what God says about us. We are blessed and beloved; we are marked as Christ’s own forever. We understand that the work Jesus did in his life, love, suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection was to stand by our side, and ultimately take our place, so that death does not wreak its havoc on us, so that death does not have the victory, but that the victory is in new life. If this is so, and I do believe that it is so; our reality points to death and resurrection, then, what God says about Jesus, you are my beloved and with you I am pleased, then it is true about us, you and me, as well.

So baptism shapes us, our baptism matters as Jesus’ baptism matters. We need to live our lives out of this truth, this reality. Our baptism matters. It matters because out of it we may life a moral life. It is our baptism that may guide and direct us as we navigate the turbulent waters of moral decision making. We live in a world where it appears moral decision making is largely absent. You only have to watch the news, which no longer is news but entertainment, to see that. All over our television screens, newspapers, magazines, are stories that cause me to wonder, what were they thinking? The answer probably is, they weren’t.

In a culture where people are tempted by savvy marketers to form identities around consumption and branding, how can the church provide an alternative identity that frees us from being consumed by commodities? Money is a moral issue.

The ubiquitous refrain of "I'm bored" suggests not so much a lack of interesting possibilities as a false notion of what fulfillment looks like; how can the church invite people into the adventure of Christian living? Boredom is a moral issue.

People are not immune to the general sense of anxiety arising from a feeling of political, economic, and global insecurity; how can the church help us learn to fear rightly and live courageously? Fear is a moral issue.

As most of you know, I don’t offer much in the way of absolute certainty; I approach most answers to questions with a certain amount of humility. But in this case, I know the answer to these questions. The answer to these questions lies in taking our baptism seriously. The answer to these questions lies in living as a community of faith in which baptism matters. Our baptism frames and shapes our moral life. The over arching principle of our moral life is, “I will with God’s help.” This Christian life is not something we attempt on our own. It matters too much to try it by ourselves. This Christian life is always with God’s help, and it is always supported and loved by this particular community of faith. Once again we fall into the sin of narcissism when we attempt the moral life on our own. It just doesn’t work, it just can’t work. We see that played out before us over and over again. At the core of who we are, whose we are, and what we know about Jesus, is the body. We look to the body of Christ to bear us when we cannot walk on our own, to pray for us when we can no longer pray for ourselves. Baptism binds us together, baptism makes us accountable to one another. Baptism reminds us that we never enter the water alone; we always use the buddy system. That’s a lesson we all should have learned at summer camp. Our moral life arises out of our life together as the body of Christ.

Secondly the Christian moral life is to continue in the practices, “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?” I find the use of the word practice incredibly liberating. Doctors practice, lawyers practice, we practice this moral life and we are immersed in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. This is what we do, it is not nothing. We read and study scripture, and we read and study what those who have come before us say about scripture. We gather around kitchen tables, and living room tables, and restaurant tables and we exchange ideas, we hash out arguments, we bring up pros and cons, we talk! We learn from one another.

There are two pictures that I hold as models for Christian practice. First is actually the rabbinic practice of Torah study and interpretation. The rabbi’s would gather together to read and discuss scripture, they would raise point after point, apply scripture to this situation and that, they would argue and fight, and then they would agree to disagree, and live their common lives together treating each other with dignity and respect.

Secondly is the practice of communion and common prayer. We come together in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. At our center is Jesus Christ. What we do and what we say forms and frames our practice. We are fed and nourished by a loaf of bread, bread that has been prepared by the loving hands of a man who shares his gift of baking. Bread that is blessed and broken for all of us. Bread whose fragments join us together as a whole, healed and forgiven. Bread in which the main ingredient is wheat, wheat whose seeds have been planted in the dirt, seeds that must die in order to emerge from the ground as a new creation, the plant that gives us our sustenance. We meet, shoulder to shoulder, and share this bread, Jesus, this new creation that makes each of us a new creation. It is in this action that we may find our identity, blessed and beloved.

And together we pray, not just us, but God’s people all over this city, this country, this world. We may not agree on much, but still we pray. Our practice of prayer is our identity. In and through our common prayer, our morning prayer, our noon day prayer, our evening prayer, our spontaneous prayer, our prayer under our breath, we are healed, the fragments of our lives are brought together and made whole, made new. Our moral life arises out of our practice of study and prayer.

Resisting, Repenting, Returning, “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?” Missing the mark is part of who we are as human beings; turning back toward God is our identity as blessed and beloved of God. Baptism does not make us perfect, but the grace of baptism does woo us back, it helps us and causes us to turn our eyes back toward God even when we’ve blown it so badly we can’t imagine God ever taking us back. There is nothing we can do that separates us from God’s abundant and amazing grace. Our moral life arises out of forgiveness.

Embodying the Good News, “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?” You hold the light. You are filled with the love of Christ. You are blessed and beloved. You are equipped and prepared by your baptism to go out into the world and proclaim by word and example God’s abundant and amazing love, God’s forgiveness and healing. Our moral life arises out of this embodiment of Jesus. It is at the core of respect and dignity for every human being.

Remember your baptism! Remember that you are blessed and beloved. Remember your identity. For those of us who have forgotten, I invite you to exercise your baptismal commitment by renewing your spiritual journey and moral development by participating in one of the many opportunities you have here at St. Andrew’s. Bible study, Education for Ministry, Sunday morning education, Wednesday @ St. Andrew’s, Barely Organized at Bully Blends, serving at Cornerstone Mission, preparing a meal for United Campus Ministry. Or maybe you have an idea for something that you would like to invite others to do with you.

Remember your baptism!
Remember your identity.
Remember that you are blessed and beloved.

The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.