Rewriting the Meanings of Baptism

1 Epiphany A      January  8, 2017

Is.42:1-9         Ps. 89:20-29

Acts 10:34-38     Matt. 3:13-17

 

  History is about re-writing the past and making it something different than when it actually happened.  Why?  Because history is always written after the past events.  History is written from the point of view of "insider" information.  We know what happened and so we write and try to pretend we don't know the aftermath when we write about a past event.  But it is impossible to deny what we already know.

  You and I were baptized.  And we are still writing about the meaning of our baptism because our baptismal results, meanings and ministries are not yet over.

  One of the major reasons why you and I have been baptized is because Jesus was baptized.  And if it was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for us.  And we have departure command of Jesus to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  But I will tell you that I think that history the baptism of Jesus was re-written to have more meaning than it did when it originally happened.

  The Gospel is proof that the life of Jesus was re-written with different meanings than his life had when he was actually living it.

  The Gospel writers knew more than people who lived at the same time of Jesus.  The Gospel writers lived after the death of John the Baptist and so they knew more than John the Baptist about the life of Jesus.  The Gospel writers wrote about the baptism of Jesus because they knew the church had become successful and had baptized many members into the church.  The Gospel writers knew that Jesus had died and reappeared to his disciples.  The Gospel writers knew that the life of Christ continued in their lives even when they could not see him and so they re-wrote the life of Jesus knowing the outcome of his life within the church.  They re-wrote the Gospel believing that the Risen Christ was inspiring how they wrote and told the story of Jesus.

  Let us look at the baptism of Jesus and see how it might have been understood differently.

  If we try to pretend that we were like John the Baptist and did not know about the outcome of the life of Jesus, then the baptism of Jesus could be understood in a very original way.  What might that be?  Jesus and John were relatives and friends.  When Jesus became baptized by John the Baptist, it meant that he respected John as a mentor and friend.  It meant that he was a willing participant in the movement and community which formed around John the Baptist.

            But what happened in history?  John the Baptist died an early death and so his community was left without its leader.  Jesus was the logical successor to the community of John the Baptist and the Gospels tell us that former disciples of John the Baptist became disciples of Jesus.

  In the writing of the history of the baptism of Jesus, it was a witness to the community of John the Baptist about the closeness between John and Jesus.  It was a witness to the kind of love respect that Jesus had for John the Baptist.  The writers of the Gospels were saying to the community of John the Baptist:  Jesus and John were so close that Jesus was the true successor to John the Baptist.  If you once accepted the baptism of John the Baptist, so did Jesus, but now you can accept being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. The retelling of the baptism of Jesus had the purposeful meaning of convincing the followers of John the Baptist to follow Jesus.

  But Jesus did not just have a following among the Jews, he did not just have a following with the former members of the community of John the Baptist, Jesus came to have a following among the Gentile peoples of the cities of the Roman Empire.  So his baptism had to be rewritten with further meaning.  The baptism of Jesus was then seen as his accepting solidarity with all humanity.  The early church believed that Jesus was already God's Son and so why did Jesus need to be baptized?  He didn't, except the meaning of the life of Jesus was he was God taking solidarity with humanity in expressing how close God's life was to us.  So Jesus became baptized into the human family to invite men and women to be baptized into the realization of being sons and daughters of God.

            Today, you and I are invited to have our baptismal meanings rewritten.  Why were we baptized?  Well, it is a cute little rite of passage that we have for infants as a family celebration.  Well that's what mom and dad wanted.  That's what we were taught about how to make a public celebration of our being in the family of Christ.  And these are valid meanings of baptism but you and I are not finished rewriting the meanings of our baptism.

            When you and I have come to discover our gifts and talents and shared them.  When we've felt God's grace and love go through us to others by the words and deeds of our lives, then we have come to rewrite the meanings of our baptisms.

  And what does this mean?  It means that there are many more meanings of our baptisms that we have yet to experience.  God in Christ is not done with what God wants to do in and through our lives. 

  Today is stewardship Sunday and we are committing the time, talent and treasure of our life towards the ministry of the church.  This is how we further unfold the meanings of our baptism, meanings which we did not know we had until we have been given the invitation and the discovery of our ministries in this time and place.

  The longer the church experienced the Risen Christ, the more meanings his baptism came to have for them.  The future will always add more meanings to the past.  The original event is the seed that becomes known differently when it became the full-blown plant or tree.

            There are many people who have been baptized and who don't even know it.  There are many people who have forgotten that they were baptized.   There are many people who have not been nurtured in knowing the meaning of their baptisms.  There are many people who have denied or been denied the knowledge and the release of baptismal grace to change and renew their lives.

  If Jesus had not gone on to do all of his wonderful works, if he had not died and re-appeared to be known and active in the lives of his disciples, both the birth and baptism of Jesus would have been forgotten seeds in infertile soil.  But the birth and the baptism of Jesus was fully released and activated as fully divine ministry and so his birth and baptism came to have incredible meanings for the church and the world.

  Let it not be said about our baptisms today that they were seeds that fell in infertile soil and so they did not germinate and grow and find release to become the fruit bearing plants of ministry.  No matter what our age today, the meanings of baptisms are not yet finished.

  Let us during this New Year of 2017 finding new meanings for our baptisms.  And how are we going to do this?  By offering ourselves to receive the grace of ministry to surprise ourselves to know that God has given us some gifts that can only be fulfilled through us in this place.

  As we celebrate the baptism of Jesus today, let us rejoice that his baptism was but a ministerial beginning to an incredible life resulting in us knowing that God is very near to us.  Let us be thankful that the baptism of Jesus attains new meaning today for each of us as we are inspired by it, inspired to remember our own baptism and to stir up within ourselves the gifts of ministries that God wants to complete through us.

            What will be the accrued meanings for the baptisms of the people of St. John's in this New Year?  The meanings of the baptism of Jesus accrued as they were released in a full life and afterlife of ministry to his followers and to the lives of those who came to know the Gospels.  Let us commit today to see more meanings of our baptism arise this year through our ministries.  Let not our baptisms be forgotten or locked in baby pictures of us wearing cute little white gowns; let the meanings of our baptism be rewritten this year with new discovery of mission and ministry as we share the Good News of God that in Christ people can know that God has come very close to them.  Amen.

 

Sunday School, January 8, 2017 1 Epiphany A

Sunday School, January 8, 2017    1 Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

Themes

Baptism

Baptism is a celebration of being in God’s family with others.

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of God’s Son, Jesus into a human family, the family of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth.

When Jesus was born, he was already God’s child, but we celebrate that Jesus was a human child because we believe that God wanted to become so much like one of us to show us how God could be known by human beings.

Jesus as God’s Son, did all the human things that we as humans do.  Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist the Jordan River.  He did this so show us how much God was with us in our human lives.  Jesus was baptized to show us that we could be baptized too as a celebration of being members of God’s family.

Jesus was baptized so that we might follow him and be baptized too.

What is baptism for us?  It is a celebration of being members in God’s family.  So we have two families is our lives; the family of our birth and the family of God.

Jesus came to us as God’s special son to show us that we too can know ourselves as God’s sons and daughters. 

Why is it important?  Because we will live our lives differently if we know and live as a member of God’s family.  We will live with love, kindness and forgiveness.  We know that our human families are not perfect but we know that God is perfect.  Since we know this we can forgive each other for not being perfect.

Sermon:

How did you come into this world?  You were born right?  And you were born into a family, right?

  But did you know that you were born into another family too?

  Who gave birth to this entire world and the sun and the moon and the stars and everything?

  We might say that God gave birth to this entire world.  That’s what it means when we say that God created the world.

  But sometimes we forget that God is the creator of the world.  Sometimes we forget that we are a member of the great world that God gave birth to.

  How do you and I remember that we were born?  We remember that we were born by celebrating our birthdays each year.

  So how do we celebrate that we are also a member of the family of God?

  We celebrate our membership in God’s family by what we call baptism. 

  Jesus Christ came into this world to remind us that we also belong to the family of God.  And Jesus Christ was baptized into the family of men and women, boys and girls, so that he could show us how much God cares for us and how close God is to our lives.  God joined the human family to remind us that we belong to the family of God.

  So as we remember the baptism of Jesus today, we also remember our own baptism too.

  So when you are born into your family, how do you keep alive as a little baby?  Do your mom and dad feed you?  How many of you had a high chair?  Why do we put babies in high chairs?  We do it so when a baby is still young, a baby can still be at the table with us when we eat our meals.  Family meals are important because that is how people in a family get fed; but they are also important because that is when members of a family talk with each other, share stories  and memories.  And each family has special meals at birthdays, at Thanksgiving and at Christmas.  So family meals are very important to us for many reasons.  If your dad does not come home for dinner because he has a business trip, does that mean that your dad does not like you?  No.  Even though dad misses a meal, dad is still with you in his love and his care and his concern.  Even when we don’t see mom or dad at our meal, their love is still present within us.

  Do you see this piece of furniture here?  What do we call it?  An Altar?  But another name for this piece of furniture is the “Lord’s Table.”  What meal do we have on the Lord’s Table?  We call it the Holy Eucharist or our meal of Thanksgiving.

  Holy Eucharist is the Christian family meal and it is a very special meal…we have a special plate and cup and we have nice candles.  And when we have our meals we sing and we share stories about Jesus.  And even though we don’t see Jesus, we know that Jesus is with us in his love and in his promise that he would be with us as we receive the bread and the wine.  When we receive the bread and the wine, we take it into our mouth and it goes into us and it becomes us.  And so the food we eat becomes a part of us.  And that is how close Jesus promises to be with us in our Christian family meal; even though we don’t see him, he is close to us.

  Since this is a special meal, I want you to have some special practices in receiving this meal.  When you come to receive the bread and wine. First we are kneeling as a sign of respect to Christ.  Next we can prepare for receiving the presence of Christ in different ways.  We can whisper some prayers: Be near to me dear Jesus and be near to my friends.  We can make the mark of our Christian family…the sign of the cross.  We put out our hands and when I put the bread on your hand, I say, “The body of Christ the Bread of heaven.”  And when you receive the bread, you say,  “Amen.”  Do you know what Amen means?  It means, “Yes!  I agree.”  And then when you hold your bread to dip into the wine and the cup bearer say, “The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.”  You say again, “Amen.”  And then you carefully dip your bread to just have a little wine in it.  And then you can whisper, “Thank you Jesus for being in me.”  And you can make the sign of the cross again before you go back to your seat.

  You are baptized and so you are in the family of God.  And you receive the bread and the wine because this is our Christian family meal.

  And we remember that we need lots of things for our life that we cannot see.  We need air and we can’t see air, But we also need love, and hope and joy and faith and we can’t see them even though we know that they are real.

  Do you now understand baptism and Holy Eucharist a little better now?  I hope so. 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

January 8, 2017: The First Sunday After theEpiphany

Gathering Songs:Hallelu, Hallelujah!, Peace Before Us, There is One Lord, I’ve Got Peace Like a River

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah!  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah

Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations..

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 29

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his Name; * worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; * the LORD is upon the mighty waters.

The voice of the LORD is a powerful voice; *  the voice of the LORD is a voice of splendor.

.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Peace Before Us  (Wonder, Love and Praise, # 791)

1-Peace before us, peace behind us, peace under our feet.  Peace within us. Peace over us.  Let all around us be peace.

2-Love,  3-Light, 4-Christ

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar.

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

 

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: There is One Lord (Renew! # 161)

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.  There is one God who is Father of All. 

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: I’ve Got Peace Like a River (Christian Children’s Songbook # 122)

I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.  I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river.  I’ve got peace like a river in my soul..

Love

Joy

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God! 

Jesus, Superman, Baptism and Christian Clubs

1 Epiphany A      January  12, 2014

Is.42:1-9         Ps. 89:20-29

Acts 10:34-38     Matt. 3:13-17

Lectionary Link

  Long before the digital world took over, some of us grew up in the high literary culture of comic books.  The hero of heroes of the comic book culture was Superman.  The author of this story obviously borrowed from the biblical story.  Kal-El is sent hurling through space in an escape capsule by his father Jor-El from the planet Krypton and he lands in Kansas and is adopted and though he is from Krypton, he is Earthly enough to become known as the mild mannered Clark Kent.  He progressively becomes aware of his other-worldly powers even as he hides them in the earthly human Clark Kent.  As the mild-manner newspaper reporter he is situated to be aware of the circumstances where heroic interventions are required.

  The comic book literary experience of the hero genre was engaging to us.  We, the readers, were the privileged insiders as to the full identity of Clark Kent, while those in the story, Perry White, Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane and all of Metropolis were kept in the dark.  The authors let the readers know what the characters in the story do not know.  The hidden incognito hero story-line is a story line that has been repeated in successful comics and cinematic presentations many times over.

  A story reader knows that the ignorance of people in the story is much more profound than any current ignorance in our lives now.  What is the story line of admitting what I don’t know now?  What I don’t know about other people now has no context for me to even talk about.  What I don’t know now will only have engaging meaning in hindsight when I find out what was truly was happening when I was ignorant.

  This is the genius of narrative and story.  The reader gets to read about the past with knowledge that the original characters are portrayed as not having.  This illusion of art is what makes it so embracing.

  Narrative is how the Gospel was told because the Gospel writings were forging the identity of a club of people who were gathering to survive their lives lived within the Roman Empire.  Urbanization was a fact of the Roman Empire.  Nomadic people and people who were forced into exile were people who needed to have smaller group identity to negotiate their identity within the cities of the Roman Empire.

   The baptism of Jesus is a story about his initiatory rite into humanity.  The encompassing of   humanity by the divine is the story of Jesus.  Kal-El appeared earthly enough to pass as Clark Kent.

  Jesus is the hero whose identity is known and revealed and told in progression by the Gospel writers.  These writers were providing something like we, young boys felt when we received a crisp new Superman comic book, that we secreted away in our secret club or secret fort and we felt special in that club in the midst of the outside world of parents and teachers and all other authorities.

  The Christian Clubs in the Roman Empire gave people an identity.  The Christian Clubs had an initiatory ritual known as baptism.  With baptism you began that progressive incorporation into the Christian Club and this would give you an extended family to help you negotiate your existence within the Roman Empire.  The Roman Authorities were visible enough through soldiers and authorities to be threatening to those who did not have authority; the Roman authorities were not omnipresent enough to completely take over private lives and in those private lives one had to learn to practice lodging behavior to survive.  Old family, tribal and clan systems often broke down in the cities and so the function of the Christian Clubs within the city became formidable in the lives of the members of these Clubs, these churches.

  Modern society has changed the church.  Church has come to have a more compartmentalized specialty.  We have made the church into such a holy and special gathering of people, it has become somewhere we don’t want to go very often, maybe but an hour occasionally, but then we want to retreat to our man-caves or women salons and do the really clubbish things which excite us, like watching the 49ers or all of the other exciting things that we apparently don’t find in church.

  I would submit to you that these early churches were very engaging entertaining clubs which provided significant social function for the people drawn to join them.  Churches used to command a larger role in the socialization process of belonging.  Christians were a bit secretive in the Roman Empire because one did not want to be too open or visible to raise any question about any possible political opposition to the Emperor and his surrogates.

  Gospel stories and literature were the art of the community; it was entertaining art; it was initiatory art.  In the Gospel literature a member of a Christian Club was a privileged reader who had special knowledge about the resurrection appearances of this hero Jesus.  But in knowing end of the story, the reader could relive in engaging excitement all of the human limitations which this hero took upon himself.

  The Gospel writings and other letters and writings were passed around and received with excitement in these “club” churches.  Christians met and had this incredible social identity club into which they were initiated by baptism.  Why baptism?  Because Jesus himself was baptized.  And because Jesus had surpassed John the Baptist and because many of the followers of Jesus had come from the community of John the Baptist, it was important to hear it said that John recognized the excellence of Christ.  But at the same time, the risen hero Christ, accepted his complete solidarity with humanity in locating himself within a specific community led by John the Baptist. 

  The risen Christ, the super-human being, was also Jesus of Nazareth in all of his limitations. 

  There is always a logical problem in hero stories.  If Superman is great enough to catch criminals and people who are falling from buildings, shouldn't he also have been great enough to prevent the necessity of the rescue in the first place?  That is the same problem which the Gospel writers had to deal with….yes Christ is really great and super and wonderful but at the same time God and God’s super One did not exercise the preventive efforts to make salvation and rescue and healing unnecessary.  It is the difference between asking God to prevent illness and asking God to heal us when illness has happened.  So the super hero cannot be so super as to avoid most of the consequences of freedom in this world.  The super hero has to be great enough to surf the waves of true freedom in this world and even the freedom that brings the phenomenon of death.

  The Gospel writings within the early church clubs gave their members an initiatory inculcation into the group values.  The Gospel clubs recount the story and the meaning of the story of Jesus their hero.  Jesus was God becoming initiated into full humanity within a ritual such as baptism so that men and women might be baptized or initiated into the realization of the divinity, the eternal spirit nature that has to be released or energized in order to experience the Higher Power of God’s Spirit to change one’s life.

  You and I today want to be initiated into the divine; you and I want to be initiated into the Sublime.  You and I want to know that our lives are touched by a Higher Power of delicious purpose.  Since we have the freedom to worship, we don’t have to do it in secret clubs with just a few writings to read like the monthly comic books in my young boys club or like the few early writings which were passed around in the early Christian communities.  Because of the acceptance of the church in our society, we have relegated the church to a compartmentalized spiritual category and we say it is holy and special; but then we go elsewhere for the other fun and social identity of our lives.

  I am trying to make the point of the relevance of the Risen Christ and the Gospel and the Church to our entire lives.  It is not a special compartment; the risen Christ can be in the places where we are finding our secret sublime fun, if we will simply allow Christ to be connected with all of the sublime and wonderful experiences of our lives.

  Baptism is not being initiated into church life; it is a celebration of birth into abundant life itself, God’s life, because we live and move and have our being in God.   Baptism is the invitation to  hear the Great Within cry to you and me, “You are my beloved son and daughter.  With you I am pleased.”  To hear these words within us is the experience of profound affirmation to be, to love, to search, to discover, to wonder, to find goodness, to express as much of the possibilities of hope through faithful acts and deeds.

  Can we see how excited people must have been in these early Christian clubs within the cities of the Roman Empire?  Can we appreciate the identity that they received from initiation into the Risen Christ?

  Can we be honest about how our parish functions in our own lives now?  The parish may not have the same impact in our lives as those early Christian clubs but can we liberate the message from being but a sacred compartment on Sunday, and understand the reality of baptism being our initiation into the life of God, who has said to each of us in the loudest silence of our souls, “You are my son and daughter, with you I am well pleased.”  Amen.