St. Paul’s United
Church
Sunday, July 8, 2007
One
Lord, One Faith, One Baptism – Rev. David Mundy
Ephesians
4:1-6 Matthew 3: 13-17
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A few weeks ago a group of
preteens came to our home on a Friday evening. We armed them with squirt guns
and engaged in a spirited battle which left us all soaked to the skin. They
left wrapped in towels and I assumed that the day was done. A short while later
a knock came at the door with a request which continued the watery theme.
An elderly woman lay dying in
the hospital and her brother-in-law, the man at our door, asked if I could come and baptize her.
He informed me that her mother had died when she was young which meant that she
and the other children of the family were dispersed to aunts and uncles for
care. This woman had physical and mental challenges so she eventually lived in
group homes and other care facilities. One of the sisters who continued to
provide support was aware that through the years her sibling had gone to church
but was never baptized. Would I come?
So I changed my clothes, and prepared.
While I left my squirt gun at home, I did take a container of water and a
bible. In the hospital room I read scripture and prayed and then I baptized a
woman named Ruby whom I had never met before in the name of the Triune God. And
with the sign of the cross I marked her as Christ’s for eternity. Only a few
hours later she entered into that eternal promise. The family told me later
that her restlessness subsided and she became peaceful in those last hours.
These few minutes together were
holy and deeply meaningful even though the congregation for this sacrament was
several family members and the nurses who came and went. There was no baptismal
font and there was no formality in the usual sense.
This morning we celebrate the
sacrament of baptism, in this instance for a tiny child named Isabelle who is
at the beginning of this life’s journey rather than the end. Still, we have
participated in a holy moment where we have used water and oil as signs of
Christ’s powerful presence all through her lifetime.
During the first six months of
this year I have baptized more than a dozen people including that elderly adult, young parents, children
old enough to decide for themselves, and recently born infants whose parents
have acted on their behalf. In each instance it hasn’t been the age of the
candidate that mattered. In our United Church there is no set age for this
sacrament. It is the significance of becoming part of the communion of Christ
that matters, not
the calendar.
For the next few weeks of the summer
I will be preaching on the stained glass windows of our sanctuary here at St.
Paul’s and it is appropriate that I begin with the one which is about baptism
on this baptism Sunday.
You may be aware that stained
glass windows are an ancient way of teaching the faith. In medieval times the
majority of worshippers in churches couldn’t read and the scripture lessons
were in the ancient Latin language, so the bible was a closed book in many
respects. It was the windows of churches, cleverly pieced together with
coloured glass, that illustrated the key stories of the bible and they have
endured for centuries.
Our windows are not so old –
the ones around us are celebrating their fortieth anniversary this year – and
all of them feature Jesus. The one which focusses on
baptism is on the east side of the sanctuary and to be honest this window is a
little confusing because it shows Jesus with a child in his arms and a
baptismal font in the background.
There is nothing in the gospels
about Jesus baptizing anyone, not his disciples or any person of any age. What
we are told in all four gospels is that Jesus was baptized as his ministry
began and as he came up out of the waters of the Jordan River the Spirit of the
Living God came upon him. This was a significant, public beginning to his life
with everyday people.
As you heard, Jesus was
baptized as an adult and actually there is no mention of baptizing infants in
the New Testament. All candidates for baptism were adults who were totally
immersed in water, the way Baptists and Pentecostals still are. It was only
centuries later that the baptism of children became a practice of the Christian
church and in many denominations it is the most common way of welcoming
individuals into the faith
Of course small children can’t
understand what is happening, so we act on their behalf. We make promises to
encourage them through all the stages of faith during their lifetime. There are
so many differences between Christian churches and unfortunately our family
squabbles reflect badly on us, but in baptism - whatever form it takes – we are
united in Christ whether we really appreciate it or not. The phrase on this
stained glass window is One Lord, One Faith, One
Baptism which we heard in our other reading today. These are the words of
the apostle Paul, rather than Jesus, but they speak of our common bond in
Christ.
One Lord, one
faith, one baptism. Christ is the centre and saviour of
our lives, and our faith is in Christ, and baptism is
a sign of that faith. This sounds great, but there is always the danger that
baptism can become a quaint ritual or convention rather than the “outward
sign of an inward” reality, the sign of being alive in Christ. When I was
ordained in 1980, I went off to Newfoundland to serve an outport
pastoral charge with five preaching points. I was surprised in my first weeks
there that almost immediately after a child was born the parents were on the
phone seeking baptism as soon as possible. I discovered that it wasn’t because
of religious fervour. At that time in Newfoundland babies were registered with
the government through the churches rather than the hospitals where the
children were born. It was my task to baptize the child and send off what was
called a Return of Birth form to St. John’s. The government of
Newfoundland and Labrador would then pay me the generous sum of fifty cents for
every child I registered. Of course I have invested all that money for my
retirement.
The parents knew that they weren’t going to
start collecting the all-important baby bonus cheques until I had done my work.
It was difficult to have a meaningful conversation about baptism when I knew
that the main purpose, at least for some, didn’t necessarily have much to do
with faith.
While we don’t have anything
like this here in Ontario, there is the danger that we will “go through the
motions” of baptism rather than truly celebrating this glorious new
beginning as the people of Christ. Every single time we do this we can have a
sense that the heavenly hosts are rejoicing and because we are incorporated
into Christ God declares, “this is my child, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” As
we made our promises on behalf of this child God makes a promise or covenant,
which cannot be broken.
Is there a difference between
the baptism I did of the elderly woman in the hospital and the baby brought to
the font in worship this morning? The answer is both no and yes. Both were
incorporated into new life in Christ, but it is this tiny child who still has
this earthly life of promise before her. We need to remember, though, that when
we celebrate baptism there is always the reminder of both death and life in
Christ. In the letter to the church in Rome the apostle wrote these jarring and
even disturbing words.
Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were buried into
his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so
that we too might walk in newness of life.
Obviously we don’t want any
child who is baptized to physically die. Paul wasn’t suggesting this
either. He did want us to appreciate
that something truly life-changing happens in this moment and that every person
enters into a new and eternal promise through the waters of baptism.
The difference with the baptism
any child is the wonderful opportunity given to us as the new beginning in
Christ. John Westerhoff has written a thoughtful book
called Bringing up Children in the Faith in which he speaks of the
journey of faith which leads toward maturity. He compares what will happens as each child grows in faith to the growth of a
tree. Depending on the amount of water and sun and healthy soil a tree slowly
but surely develops over time. Each year another distinct ring of growth is added, although we
don’t necessarily see it because the tree is a living entity. What we may
notice one day is that the tree has flourished and spreads its branches.
When we mature in faith, it is
not always perceptible but we are formed and changed over time. The God who is
three-in-one is our sunlight, and water, and the soil in which we grow.
So whether we are close family
members of the person baptized or total strangers, we have a common bond in our
desire to be the new creation in Christ and to encourage that steady growth.
What I will ask all of you to do today is consider how you will fulfill the
promises you have made for everyone who has been baptized into Christ’s church.
And I will encourage you to live your faith as fully as possible from day to
day as people of one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Amen!