LENT 2A 2008

Another in a Series on Baptism

I know that if you have been around a while, you most likely have heard bits and pieces of my spiritual journey, or testimony. But since I can only talk from my experience, I have to go back to it again and again to explore my understanding of the Christian life. So this morning I want to reflect a little on my journey to help illustrate some truths that relate to our keeping our baptismal covenant.

At some point, when I was little, I had water poured on my forehead and the priest, I think it was my Dad, but I can’t ask anyone now, said this:

I baptize thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And then he said:

We receive this child into the congregation of Christ’s flock; and do sign him with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end. Amen.

Now I know that a key issue in Baptism is the issue of baptizing infants, but I am not going to deal with that here, but let me simply say that it is a covenantal way of understanding our faith. A child, through baptism, is brought into the covenant of grace, just like a child born Jewish is circumcised to bring them into the covenant of Abraham.

So, as a child, I had these beautiful words spoken over me, obviously not having a clue to what they meant, because I couldn’t even talk, but there they were, a prayer and a hope prayed over me. And so I began my life, attending church every Sunday because my Dad was a priest. As I grew, I had a certain sense of faith. I prayed from time to time in church.. I prayed at the free throw line and at bat. But the words and phrases of the liturgy, as familiar as they were, had no real experiential meaning for me. The liturgy was comfortable.. At times being in the Church brought me peace. But my faith was what I would call a “church faith” and not a living faith.

Well, after years of trying to find myself in college through drugs and various religious experiences, I met these people who talked about giving my life to Jesus. At first I was so full of pride because I had a church experience that I didn’t listen, because I thought that I had already done the Jesus thing. But little by little, the Spirit of God began to draw me unit I found myself on my knees in the Smartsville Community Church praying for forgiveness and asking Jesus into my life. Then that night I was up front in an Assembly of God church in the baptismal tank, being dunked and saying that I wanted to be a Christian.

Something very powerful happened to me that day, and that is the reason I am standing here before you now. In a real sense, my church faith was translated into my personal faith. Like a window being opened in my soul and my mind, Christian words and doctrines now began to make some sense to me. I felt like I was “born again”. I felt like my sins were washed away and I was given a new chance at life. I felt clean and alive. Of course, when you stop doing drugs, things clear up, but it was so much more than merely stopping a destructive habit. I loved going to church and reading the Bible. At first, of course, I was often confused by the Bible, but I read it anyway, wanting to know what it said and what it was about. I can remember a few years into my early Christian life, reading the book of Romans carefully, and reading passages like the one we just read, and not having a clue to what Paul was talking about, but going back again and again to see if I could understand it.

One day I found the Prayer Book that had been given to me at my confirmation, May 23, 1962. I began to read through it and I was astounded to realize that I had been hearing the Gospel my whole life. But now the words in the Prayer book made sense to me.. they had gone from simply being familiar and comfortable words to words that described my hope and my faith and my experience.

Since the day I was set lose on the Episcopal Church as an ordained person, I have coveted this sense of discovery and experiencing the Christian faith. This is why one of our core values here at Faith Church is that we are a community that desires to take our faith seriously. Central to all that I try and do in my ministry is to provide an environment in which the Spirit of God can move to transform your lives. But the truth is, neither Liz nor I nor any Pastor can make this happen. In a real sense, one of the most frustrating verses for me in all of the Bible is this:

The wind (spirit) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8(NRSV)

This verse says to me that it is beyond my power, or anyone’s power, to produce faith in another person. The Spirit of God cannot be controlled by human beings through rites and rituals. O we try, and not matter what tradition we are in, whether it be protestant or catholic, we try and create rituals or revivals or whatever to get God to do what we think God should do.

But we are not control. After being a priest for all these years, I have learned over and over again that I cannot produce faith in even my very best of friends. So, why do we preach and teach and celebrate the sacraments? Because we believe that God has chosen the word and the sacraments as means by which the Spirit of God works. Though we cannot control the results of what we do in preaching and celebrating the sacraments, we know that God works through these means.

We believe that through preaching and teaching and the sacraments we are creating an environment in which the Spirit, or wind of God, can blow and work. In a sense it is kind of like putting all sorts of good food on a table. There it sits, but it does not satisfy or fulfill anyone unless they get up and go over and eat what is on the table.

When we invite people to partake of the Eucharist we say this: The gifts of God for the people of God, take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”

Many years ago, the words “feed on him in your heart by faith.” were added to our prayer book because the reformers realized that simply going through rites and rituals was not enough. For baptism or communion to really impact our lives faith was needed -- a feeding and eating of the heart was needed.

This is why Pastor Liz and I decided we wanted to slow down and talk about a part of our ritual life, baptism, so that some of us might be able to hear with our hearts. Through faith, we hope that the by setting forth the word, the Spirit of God might work in some of our hearts. Last week, as I preached, I found that I was preaching to myself, and I went away strengthened and encouraged.

At the beginning of our Baptismal covenant, as I talked about last week, we renounce Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness, the evil powers of this world, and our sinful desires. Then we are asked three more questions.

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?

These are incredible questions, and ones which cannot, or should not be lightly answered. These are, in a real sense, evangelical questions. These questions are, in essence, ones that Billy Graham is asking individuals when he calls them to come down to the front. I don’t think any person’s life will ever be the same if they seriously and faithfully answer “I do” to these questions.

What does it mean to accept Jesus as your Savior? I have talked a lot about this, but in essence, it means that we need to be saved from something. In our gospel lesson this morning we read that very familiar verse:

John 3:16(NRSV)

16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

In this verse, being saved means not perishing but having eternal life. We could spend a lot of time here, but for there to be good news there also must be some bad news. And until we realize that maybe some of this bad news, like perishing, or dying, or being judged, applies to us, we will never really embrace our need for a savior.

But if we realize our need, and maybe it is simply a desperate cry for help, then the good news, the gospel, tells us that we have somewhere to go. The good news is that God has provided a way for us to be saved, and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we can find grace and love. Overcoming sin and death is the grace and love of Jesus. If we put our trust in this grace and love, our lives will be changed.

And once we do this, we will want to follow and obey Jesus as our Lord? It is this question that begins to demonstrate whether we are taking our baptismal vows seriously or whether we are simply going through the motions of Christian ritual. What does it mean to obey Jesus as Lord? Well of course it means a lot of things, but at its core, it means that we don’t just do whatever we want to do in life. It means that we want to know what the orders of our Lord are It means that we need to find out just what our Lord wants us to do? It means that we need to get to know our Lord so that we can know how it is that we are to live and the type of people we are to strive to be.

How many of you, when you make decisions about spending money, what job to take, where to live, how to spend your time, and many of the details of life, pray and seek God’s guidance? How many of you, on a weekend, ask the Lord what he would have you to do, and not plan simply by what you want to do? You see, living out our baptismal covenant does require some effort on our part..

But the wonderful truth about accepting Jesus as our Savior, trusting his grace and love and obeying Him as our Lord, is that when we do, our lives are fulfilled and blessed. I would not take all the money or pleasures or power in the world in exchange for the privilege of being a Christian. I think that often the battle that people face when it comes to really getting serious about their baptismal vows is that they fear that life is going to be miserable and boring. If all you think being a Christian is is going to church and giving money and volunteering to keep the church going, then it will be boring and there are more fun things to do. But once you put your soul and heart into striving to keep the covenant, than another whole world opens up to you. It is truly being born again.

So again, praying that the Spirit of God will work in your hearts, during this Lenten season, look at the baptismal covenant again. Read it and think about it and by God’s grace, answer the questions from your heart. Pray the answers directly to God.

Lord Jesus, I accept you are my savior. I put my whole trust in your grace and love… I promise to follow and obey you as my Lord…

It is my hope that for everyone of us, our faith will not be just attending church from time to time, but it will be a living faith, and that we will strive day by day to keep the covenant we have made in our baptism. Amen!