Proper
14A 2014
Father Adam Trambley
Aug 10, 2014 St.John’s Sharon
Baptismal Covenant
Questions, Part 2
Today we are going to continue looking at our BaptismalCovenant. When we are baptized, either
we ourselves make, or others make on our behalf, a series of promises
concerning the practical implications of our baptisms. We also renew this Baptismal Covenant when we
are present at baptisms, or when during worship services, like this morning,
when we renew our Baptismal Covenant instead of reciting the Nicene Creed. Over the past month we have looked at the
creedal aspect of the Baptismal Covenant and the first question: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? Today we will explore the last four
questions.
Will you persevere in
resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
These pleasant and easy temptations may be hard to resist
but they can be small steps down a deadly road.
Plus we have a society that tells us if it feels good do it, and
actively markets a wide variety of behaviors that can easily become destructively
addictive, whether they come from the bar, the kitchen, the internet, or the
mall. Or maybe we listen to the voice
that says that we are entitled to sit on the couch and be entertained rather
than attentively love those we live with, or rather than reach out to meet the
needs of our community, or rather than care about what happens in the wider
world. Or maybe we actually have begun
to believe that we have earned what we have and that God doesn’t really own
everything and that we haven’t received what we have as a gift and blessing to
be used for ourselves and those in need.
Or maybe we feel entitled to lash out at others in harmful ways just
because we are hurt or upset about something, and we if are unhappy we have a
right to ensure that everyone around us is as miserable as possible, as well. And we’re not just to resist those evils, but
to persevere in resisting. Leaving
church and feeling inspired to turn aside from temptation isn’t enough, but we
are also committing ourselves to turn aside when we are tired, hungry, weak,
and grumpy. We are in this for the long
term, and only persevering in resisting develops the habits and forms the
character that makes us the people we were made to be.
Of course, the second half of the questions assumes we
aren’t always successful in such perseverance because it asks if whenever we
fall into sin, will we repent and return to the Lord. We all fail.
We all fall short. We all
sin. The question is what we do
next. Do we rationalize that our failing
was OK? Do we just say “we all make
mistakes” and go blithely forward? Do we
hide it as best we can so that we at least look good on the outside? Or, do we recognize that we have messed up,
ask for forgiveness from God and from whoever else we need to ask, and seek the
help necessary to make better decisions in the future? God will forgive us, no matter what we have
done, if we turn and seek him and seek his help to loving lives.
The next question is: Will
you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
The Good News that we are meant to proclaim is that God
created us and that he loves us. In fact
he loved us so much that when we sinned he sent his son who died and rose from
the dead to reconcile us back to himself.
We are beloved children of God who have had our sins forgiven, have a
new life in Jesus Christ, and are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to
live lives of love and service to others.
On one level, sharing that Good News by word is simple
enough. We can just tell people what God
has done for us and what that means for us.
What it means to us that God loves us.
How God has touched our lives.
How we have felt God’s forgiveness and ability to start over in a new
life. How God has blessed us in whatever
ways we experience that blessing.
Thinking about what we might say is helpful in preparation for when
opportunities to share that good news arise.
We can also invite people to join us at church or at church functions so
people can hear what we believe through our worship and parish life.
More important, though, is to proclaim by example the Good
News of God in Christ. Proclaiming by example
means that we live like people who actually believe we are loved and forgiven,
so that we love and forgive others. It
means caring for others, including in some of the ways we will talk about in a
few minutes. If we are continuing in the
Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayers, and resisting evil
and repenting and returning to God when we fail, then we will experience so
much of God’s love and grace in our lives that it will overflow out onto
others. Our lives will be living
examples of God’s good news, and that will example will be compelling to others.
The next question is: Will
you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Toward the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells his
disciples the parable of the sheep and the goats. The upshot of the story is that whatever we
do for the least of our brothers and sisters, we really do for Jesus. When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
shelter the homeless, visit the sick, or visit those in prison, we are serving
Jesus. The sheep and the goats within
the parable don’t recognize Jesus in the people around them, but we are expected
to know better. (That’s why Jesus told
us the parable.) We are called to look
for Christ in everyone around us, and to love and serve them. Some people talk about seeing Jesus in a
disturbing disguise. The way we treat
others is the way we treat Jesus, whether we are looking for Christ in other
people or not, so we are better off paying attention, seeking Christ in others
and treating them the way we would want to treat God if he were here in front
of us.
The second part of this question is another way of pledging
the same basic care to others. Drawing
from the great commandment, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart,
soul, strength and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Not a difficult concept – just treat others
the way you would want to be treated, or maybe just a little bit better.
Our final question also has two parts: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the
dignity of every human being?
The first part of this question reminds us that we have a
Christian duty to our wider community.
Justice and peace are at the core of any society maintaining the least
resemblance to the Kingdom of God that all of us are meant to live in. Justice and peace go together, as well – one
isn’t really possible without the other.
Part of our baptismal covenant is a commitment to do whatever is in our
power to allow everyone to live in a just and peaceful society. This pledge doesn’t necessitate a certain
political, diplomatic or military program – reasonable people can disagree on
how to accomplish these ends. But it
does mean that we have to care, and we have to be willing to work and sometimes
sacrifice so that everyone can live in a community that lets them live a decent
human life. We aren’t allowed to write a
situation off as “not our problem” because all people are God’s children and we
are called to love them as ourselves.
Obviously we can help more effectively in some situations than in
others, but no matter what the situation, we can at least pray and see where
God might lead us.
The second part of this question asks us to respect the
dignity of every human being. We were
all made in the image of God, and we have to respect that image in
everyone. On the one hand, this means
that we recognize everyone is created equal.
As Paul writes, in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no
woman or man. We get this – it doesn’t
matter what color you are, whether you are male or female, how old you are, where
you live, how pretty you are, how big your nose is, how much hair you have, or
even what religion you are. Every human
person is worthy of our respect.
But respecting the dignity of every human being means more
than just not falling into the “isms.”
It also means that we don’t decide people are less valuable or worthy
than we are based on how we feel about them.
We do not respect people’s dignity when we determine that other people
are trashy, stupid, slutty, ignorant, incompetent, morally reprobate, terrible
parents, plagued by a horrible sense of fashion, bad drivers, or just
incredibly annoying to us, and that therefore we have every right to judge
them, spurn them, or dismiss them. Every
person we decide to look down on is someone for whom Jesus died. Psalm 1 says that happy are they who have not
sat in the seats of the scornful. We may
occasionally have reasons to evaluate someone’s behavior, although these times
are much less frequent than we generally believe, but anytime we dismiss
someone as less than the image of God, we are lying to ourselves, sinning against
them, and rejecting their Creator who lovingly made them.
OK. Just moments from
now, we are going to renew our Baptismal Covenant, agreeing to live into these
Christian practices, with God’s help. As
we answer these questions, think about places in your own life that need to be
brought more in line with the life God is calling us to live. Use the response “I will, with God’s help” to
really pray for God’s help, so that our lives resemble more and more closely
the life of the Kingdom of God.
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