A few years ago, I preached a sermon where I stated that I received a special word from God, a prophecy, that I needed to share with all Sarasota. Of course, I was saying all that tongue in cheek as I pronounced that the message all of Sarasota needed to hear from God was that the left lane is for passing! While that was a joke and intended to shine a light on the rest of the message that day, it still holds true. Prophecy is a tricky thing; as we see in the Bible, most of the time, when someone spoke a prophetic word, the person was either ignored or killed for it. What do you all think a prophet would tell us today? If God sent a prophet into the world today to make a concrete statement about what we needed to do and about what was important, what do you think this messenger would say? Seriously, please take a moment and think about it.
I won’t list all the possibilities that come to my mind because I think each of you, right now, has something on your mind that you believe God would tell the world. I am going to tell you one thing I think God would say to us. What I am about to say comes from the history of the Christian church, from the teachers of the church, and is in reaction to what I think the new view of the church is from the outside looking in.
The understanding of the church from an outside perspective is that the church is one of many social groups that works hard to make the world a better place for everyone who lives in it. This belief has, in a powerful way, crept its way into the church itself. For many in the church making the world a better place has become the primary job of the church. For many, there is a belief that the church needs to take all the baggage in the world and fix it. That is not, nor has it ever been the primary responsibility of the church.
So, if it is not the church’s job to fix the world, what exactly are we all supposed to be doing? To answer that question, I think we must turn to the Baptismal covenant. A covenant is an agreement, or a more powerful way of saying it, a legal contract. So, our baptismal covenant is our contract with God. In the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Baptismal Covenant was far more simple than our current iteration. The final question of the candidate to be baptized was this; “wilt thou then obediently keep God’s holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?” The authors of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer decided that the question was too broad and not specific enough. So, they created the five questions we currently have that are asked of the candidates and renewed by the whole congregation present. They did this to “spell out what is needed to ‘keep God’s holy will and commandments.’”[1]
These five questions are arranged so that, if followed logically, they spell out how one matures in their Christian faith; they are a progression. They also are words of prophecy that give us a concrete statement about what we are to do as Christians, as the body of Christ.
Question 1: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers? This is the first thing all Christians must do. This question is asking something straightforward in robust language. A parallel more in your face way of asking this is: will you go to church every Sunday? The primary obligation of every Christian is to worship God on the Lord’s day. The primary responsibility of every Christian is to take part in The Holy Eucharist, and to receive the body and blood of Jesus, that we might dwell in him and he in us. That is first, and we cannot do anything at all as The Church without first worshipping God every Sunday.
Question 2: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent, and return to the Lord? To worship God in truth, unity, and concord, we must do our best to resist the evil temptations we are forever surrounded by. When we do fall into temptation, we are to repent and receive God’s mercy. This question builds the muscle fibers we as Christians need to begin to be the outward signs that point other people to Jesus. This question causes us to realize the grace and mercy we have received and offer it back to those who have committed evil against us.
Question 3: Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? In other words, will your words and actions make your life a holy and living sacrifice acceptable to God? In action, this looks like Christians taking the advice of great saints like Justin Martyr, who implored those in the early church to be the very best Roman citizens. A message we all should take to heart today, that the best way to introduce the love of God to those who are yet to feel it is to reflect the love we feel from God to them. Being a good citizen and reflecting love is our proclamation.
Questions 4: Will you seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Once we have mastered going to church every Sunday, asking God for forgiveness and forgiving others, being the best citizens we can be, we become able to recognize the image of Jesus each of our neighbors possess. When we see that, we can live into the second part of the summary of the law, to love neighbor as self. These questions are here to show us the progression to fully living into that original question from the 1928 Prayer Book; will you obediently keep God’s holy will and commandments?
Question 5: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? The only thing that can enable human beings to strive for justice and peace among all people is the total giving of self to God. The recognition that as the body of Christ, we are acting on God’s behalf in the world. The problem with this question is that today many in the church are starting at the end of the covenant and not the beginning. Some view the church as a social advocacy program that uses the name of Jesus to baptize human agendas. We cannot start at the end; we must start from the beginning. If we don’t, we cease to change hearts and instead militarize the Church of God and use it as a weapon against anyone who dares to get in our way. Jesus changed the world one heart at a time; the church must follow her leader, her head, and model what he has shown us. We must be people who progress through this covenant relationship with God so that we become able to strive for justice and peace among all people.
We do not need any new prophecy to be proclaimed today to the church, what we have all promised in our baptismal agreement with God, is prophecy enough to guide us. It is all we need as we await the coming of Jesus and the perfection of His creation. As we look forward to the arrival of Our Lord, I encourage each of you, reread your covenant with God. If you are having a hard time forgiving, seeking Christ in all person, or respecting the dignity of all people, go back to the beginning, and remember that the worship of God is always first. Jesus never forgets us. Jesus is always with us, ready to take from us what we can’t deal with, and to give to us unconditional, undeserved mercy and love. The baptismal covenant is a way for each of us to remember how our Journey with God begins, and how relationships with others should look.
[1] Commentary on the American Prayer Book Hatchett.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
Second Sunday of Advent
6 December 2020