Proper 7: Jeremiah 20: 7–13; Psalm
69: 8–20; Romans
6: 1–11; Matthew
10: 24–39
A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at St. Paul’s Cathedral Church,
Springfield, Illinois on Sunday, June 22, 2014.
“GOD’S
CALL: A NEW BEGINNING”
(Homily texts:
Jeremiah 20: 7–13; Romans 6: 1–11 & Matthew 10: 24–39)
Sometimes, I hear people make the
comment, “Father, I don’t know why ritual is so important.” Often, when I hear this comment, I respond by
saying that the ritual we use during worship is important because many of the
actions we observe as the liturgy is conducted have a meaning.
This morning, since we have before us St. Paul’s
wonderful explanation of the meaning of
baptism in Romans chapter six, we have the opportunity to unpack a bit of the
meaning of the baptismal ritual that brings a person into a new relationship
with God, as God’s child.
As we do so, let’s look at baptism from three
specific perspectives: 1. God’s call to us; 2. Old
and new; and 3. Finding our true-est
selves.
We begin with God’s call to us.
It’s easy to forget that God is not only the
designer of the sacrament of baptism, but He is also the one who calls us to
enter the waters of baptism.
We affirm this reality in our liturgy, in the
opening sentences (found on page 299 of the Book of Common Prayer), as we
say: “There is one Body and one Spirit; there is one hope in God’s call to us.”
God’s call has a technical name: Vocation (coming from the Latin verb which
means “to call”).
When we think about a person’s call, a person’s
vocation, we often apply that term only to persons who are seeking to be
ordained. After all, knowing that a person’s
articulation of a desire to be ordained is coming in response to God’s call,
and not from a sense of selfish, personal motives, is extremely important.
But we would miss an important reality of our walk
with the Lord if we didn’t remember that God issues a call to everyone, and
especially to those who respond to that call by being baptized.
It’s been said that baptism is the “ordination of
the laity”. There’s a lot of truth in
that statement. For in baptism, God is
calling us into a relationship with Him,
God is calling us to set aside our old ways of thinking and our old ways
of behaving, in order to find our true-est selves. (But I am getting ahead of myself here.)
So, to summarize what we’ve said so far, we should
remember that God is the prime mover, God is the one who issues a call to us,
and our role is to respond to that call.
One final comment is in order before we move to the
next topic: Aside from the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, we cannot properly respond to God’s call at all. The reason
is that our ability to think and to understand what is right is tainted by the
stain of having been born with a sinful nature that is corrupted. In baptism, the Holy Spirit is given to the
baptized one in order to allow that old nature to be replaced by God’s new
nature.
Which brings us to the next aspect of our
consideration of baptism: Setting aside
the old, in order to take up the new.
St. Paul’s explanation of the meaning of baptism is
essential a geographical one. By that, I
mean that Paul says that we die to something, and are raised to something
new. Baptism, like death, creates a
boundary or a barrier between the old and the new.
The early Church took the meaning of baptism in this
sense very seriously. Aspects of the
practices of those early days survive in our baptismal liturgy today.
In the early centuries, persons who were coming for
baptism were baptized by full immersion into the waters of a river, a stream,
or some other body of water. (It’s
interesting to note that full immersion is, once again, becoming more common in
churches that maintain a liturgical style of worship.)
The person being baptized entered the water, faced
to the west, and renounced Satan and all his works. Then, the person turned to
the east, accepted Christ as Savior, and was then baptized. As the individual came up out of the water,
they were clothed in a white robe, signifying purity, and they left the water
by another way from the way they entered.
Thus, the reality of renouncing the old ways of
living and being were dramatically acted out in the ritual of baptism.
Now, let’s look at the ways in which these practices
survive in our liturgy today.
We should begin by reminding ourselves that the
floor-length robe called the alb that is worn during our liturgy is a survivor
of those early Church robes which were used in baptism.
But a renunciation of Satan and all his evil ways,
also survives in our liturgy.
Glance at page 302 of the Prayer Book, and the
following questions are asked of those being baptized (or of their parents and
Godparents):
- “Do you renounce Satan and all the
spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?”
- “Do you renounce the evil powers of this
world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?”
- “Do you renounce all sinful desires that
draw you from the love of God?”
- “Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept
him as your Savior?”
- “Do you put your whole trust in his
grace and love?”
- “Do you promise to follow and obey him
as your Lord?”
Paul uses the language of
crucifixion and resurrection to portray the meaning of baptism. It’s possible that he was drawing on the
Lord’s description of the reality of following God, as we hear in our gospel
reading for this morning, when He says, “… he who does not take up his cross and
follow me is not worthy of me.”
Since we’ve included Jesus’ quote
about taking up one’s cross, it’s worthy to note that He also describes in
stark terms the need to renounce the previous relationships and ties that
defined a person’s life and place in the world.
No doubt, the Lord is speaking in hyberbole
to make a point in an attempt to shock His listeners into considering the
import of what He had said. But the
reality remains that, when we come into a relationship with God through the
waters of baptism, our new relationship with God will supersede all the
realities that preceded it. By becoming
the central, defining reality in our lives, every relationship, everything we
do will be influenced by our new identity in God.
If we accept this new relationship
with God, which has come about by God’s call, God’s initiative, and which has
come about as we respond to God’s call and God’s initiative, then we are bound
to find our true-est selves.
That’s the meaning, quite likely, of
Jesus’ comment that we hear this morning:
“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my
sake will find it.”
As we move away from the baptismal
font to live our lives, day in and day out, we are called to recognize that God
will call us to do things, over and over again.
There is no retirement from serving the Lord.
We are called to renounce the ways
of the world, the ways of evil which seek to destroy God’s creatures.
We are called to behave like Christ,
loving God, loving others, and loving ourselves.
We are called to respond to God’s
initiative of love by giving back a portion of what was already His to begin
with, but which He has entrusted to us, gift of our time, our talents, and our
treasure.
As we look ahead here at St. Paul’s
Cathedral Church, we are seeking to take up a New Beginning. We are seeking to live out God’s imperative
to love, to work, to serve, and to give.
By so doing, we are simply responding in love to God’s love, made known
to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
May the Holy Spirit enable us to see
a new vision for this Cathedral Church.
May we, by the inspiration of that same Spirit, respond to God’s
overture of love by what we say, what we do, and how we love God and others.
AMEN.
