Over the past three days we’ve listened to an incredible amount of Holy Scripture, heard messianic prophecies concerning the suffering of Christ, St. Paul’s reflections on the meaning of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and upon the meaning of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We have been with Jesus at the Last Supper and when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane; we saw him beaten, and sentenced to death on a cross; we walked with him as he carried his cross to Golgotha; saw him nailed to the cross, abandoned by his disciples except for John, and saw him die on that cross. And as we waited for the resurrection, we listened to scripture readings having to do with salvation history, sang songs and canticles, and prayed.
Tonight’s liturgy began on Thursday night, as we joined with Jesus at the Last Supper, and included everything that was done leading up to the wonderful proclamation that was made just a few moments ago. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Tonight we baptized three persons. The early Church reserved baptisms for this night alone, doing so because it’s the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ which most fully discloses what baptism is about. That doesn’t mean that if we were to ask a sampling of persons in this room what the meaning of baptism is that we would come up with a unified answer. Some people don’t even call it baptism – they call it christening and would not ever be found using the word baptism. Others wouldn’t think of using the word christening. Some have a very simple understanding of baptism, that it’s the rite through which one is saved. Others associate it simply with the forgiveness of sins, while others associate it more with entrance into the Church. Baptism, of course, is all of these things and more.
I would like to define baptism as the means by which we are made Christian. I think that’s what is meant by using that word christening for the sacrament. Tonight God has made three new Christians through the rite of baptism. Obviously that doesn’t mean that these new Christians have a full understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ; in fact, it’s ludicrous to suggest that when we baptize infants. Yet the baptism of infants especially is a strong sign that what makes a Christian is not the Christian, but God.
There have been times in my life when I’ve been more faithful than at other times, and there have been times in my life when I’ve been less faithful than at other times. Do the more faithful times mean I was more of a Christian than I was when I was being less faithful? Do I somehow earn the right to call myself Christian when I’m living in a certain way and somehow lose that right when I’m not living in a certain way? There are those who would say yes to those questions. But that makes being a Christian sound like a right and not a vocation, and it makes being a Christian contingent upon us, and not upon God’s action. We call baptism a sacrament, and what we mean by that word is that it’s primarily God’s doing. While our participation is important and expected, it’s not the primary factor.
Three new Christians were made tonight, not by their action, but by God’s action. Yet these baptisms were not passive acts. We all participated, especially Ricky, who was able to respond for himself, and the parents and godparents of Jackson and Audra. Satan, all forms of evil, and sin were renounced and Jesus was accepted as Lord and Savior. Parents and godparents made solemn vows to God and to this assembly that the children they were presenting would be brought up in the Christian faith and life and that they would help these children grow into the full stature of Christ.
In the Baptismal Covenant we all confessed our faith through the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and we promised to exercise our faith in very specific ways. So in this baptism, and in every baptism, promises are made by God and by the baptismal candidates or their sponsors. God promises that through baptism the person is made a full part of God’s family, the Church; given the Holy Spirit; made a participant in the death and resurrection of Christ; and given the forgiveness of sins. And in baptism we promise, Jesus being our Lord and Savior, to believe the central tenets of the faith; to be faithful in going to church, saying our prayers, and reading and studying Holy Scripture; to resist evil; when we fall to repent; to bring others to Christ; to serve him in the needy; and to strive for justice and peace among all people.
God makes the Christian, but not without our willingness to participate in the process. For when you come right down to it, baptism is the beginning of the Christian life, just like conception is the beginning of human life.
What happens from then on is a partnership between the Christian and God. God gives us the grace to become loving, giving, self-offering, worshipping people and we either receive that grace and work with God in the process of becoming; or we reject it, turn our backs on him, and fall back into self-centered living. The reality is that most of us take a couple of steps forward, and then we take a step or two backward. The Christian life is not all progress, but God forgives and gives us a fresh start. In baptism he has made us a holy people. Our task is to become what we are.
To the newly baptized, I say to you, “Welcome to the family of God.” You or your sponsors have made some awesome promises before God and this assembly. By God’s grace and with the support of the Christian community, may you reflect in your life the very presence of Christ and so become the holy people he intends for you to be.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Easter Eve
31 March 2018