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Mountain Spirit

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Easter 4A, May 14, 2011
Acts 2: 42-47 * Psalm 23 * I Peter 2: 19-25 * John 10:1-10
Rev. David M. McNair

When you are asked to introduce yourself to a group of people, how do you identify yourself?  I am a teacher, a homemaker, a social worker, a lawyer, a contractor?  And if you are unemployed or unable to work, how do you feel about declaring this?  Because we identify ourselves by what we do, we can feel devastated when we are no longer capable of doing it – as though we had lost our very being.

You are not your occupation or your role.  You are not your achievements; you are not your failings, nor your health, your wealth or status.  All these things are connected with you, but they are not you – for you do not cease to exist when these things disappear.  Ultimately, who are you?

You are a unique manifestation of God, who is your home – who is closer to you than you are to yourself.  This is the truth of your being — the glory and wonder of it. (1) William Wordsworth put it this way:

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.” (2)

From “trailing clouds of glory” has Miles Madden Beasley come and in just a few minutes he will be baptized and hear words which declare the core truth of who he is.  His grandfather will pour baptismal waters on his head in the name of the Trinity, then I will anoint his head with oil and declare that he is marked as Christ’s own forever.  This is who he is: a child of God — a son of God — Christ’s own forever.  

In baptism, we follow the way of Jesus who was baptized by John in the Jordan River.  The scriptures report that when Jesus came out of the water the sky was “torn open,” and the Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, “You are my son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased. We may or may not have seen the sky torn open at our baptisms nor have heard God’s voice coming booming from the heavens; but I assure you, God says to each of us at our birth and at our baptism: “You are my son, you are my daughter, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased”

Baptism reconnects us with our belovedness. The 15th century church reformer Martin Luther said we should awaken every morning with the words: “I am baptized.”  In his famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, he speaks of our battle against “the prince of darkness grim.”  He says, “One little word shall fell him.”  What is that “one little word”?  I have read that it is the Latin word which means “I am baptized.” 

In his book The Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen reminds us of the central meaning of our baptism. He wrote the book for a friend who was struggling with the meaning of the Christian life. He writes: “All I want to say to you is you are the Beloved, and all I hope is that you can hear these words as spoken to you with all the tenderness and force that love can hold.”(3)  “I want you to hear that voice.  It is not a very loud voice because it is an intimate voice.  It comes from a very deep place.  It is soft and gentle.  I want you to gradually hear that voice.  We both have to hear that voice and claim it for ourselves that that voice speaks the truth, our truth.  It tells us who we are.  That is where the spiritual life starts, by claiming the voice that calls us the beloved.” (4)

Today Miles begins his spiritual journey by being baptized with Christ and hearing his essential truth: that he is God’s beloved child. But this is only the beginning of a lifelong journey of claiming that he is God’s holy beloved one.  He, like all of us, is going to need others to help him to hear and to realize this truth.  He is going to need our intentional actions and words — our time, our creativity, our resources, our sweat, our prayers. 

Garrison Keillor tells the story of a small town in Minnesota in which all the inhabitants were Roman Catholics, except one. Ole was a Lutheran. The other people in town wanted Ole to convert to Roman Catholicism, partly because they wanted the whole town to be in the same denomination and partly because they were frustrated on Fridays when they were all required to eat fish and Ole was merrily cooking his steak or hamburgers or venison.
Eventually, Ole decided to become a Roman Catholic.  When it was time for his baptism, the priest said, “Ole, you were born a Lutheran; you were reared a Lutheran, and now …” (water is sprinkled on Ole and the priest makes the sign of the cross over him) … you are a Catholic.”

The following Friday, the town’s inhabitants were glad to know that they would all be eating fish, but they smelled something “un-fishy” in Ole’s back yard. There he was, happily grilling venison on his charcoal stove. His neighbor went to the fence between their yards and listened carefully to what Ole was saying.  After a few minutes, the neighbor heard Ole say, “You were born a deer; you were raised a deer, and now … “ (Ole sprinkled some water on the venison and made the sign of the cross over the venison.) … “you are a walleye!”

That’s a nice piece of magic that Ole did in his backyard – turning deer meat into fish. That story helps us to remember that indeed Baptism is NOT a magic act. I am no magician. I have nothing up my sleeve. I am not performing any tricks here today.

It’s interesting to note that there is a theory that the magician’s words “Hocus Pocus” derive from the Latin Mass in which the priest would say Hoc est corpus (This is my body) at a key moment in the Eucharistic Prayer.  All too often, religion and magic get confused with each other.  But Baptism is not magic.

Baptism is not primarily about one “magic” moment. The focus is primarily on the future. Note the tense in the verbs in the questions I will be asking the parents and sponsors: “Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?”  “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child grow into the full stature of Christ?”

These questions are about the future: What are your intentions?  What is your commitment to this child in the future?  What kind of environment will you create for this child?

But then we go deeper.  This is not just about the parents and sponsors. The whole congregation is asked, “Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support this person in his life in Christ?”

We are not spectators here. We are key participants. We are part of Mile’s future support system. At its best, a congregation provides ongoing support for people so they can grow to hear and know that they are God’s beloved and live into the fullness of Christ’s divine image present in them. 

Miles has not even begun walking yet, but this is a good symbol for the fact that we are all committing ourselves to helping him walk when he is ready.  We might even get a chance to help him walk physically, but we will definitely help him walk spiritually.  All of us need ongoing support in our spiritual walking.  We hope and pray that he will be supported by being connected to the life of this parish (or another in days to come) as he learns to walk in faith. 

On Friday night June 3 there is going to be a pool party and meeting at Bob and Pat Magnus’ for parents, children and anyone else who would like to dream anew together about how we may enhance our efforts with our children here at Holy Spirit to help them grow in faith and love.  Our jumping off questions are these: “What are your hopes and dreams for the spiritual lives of our children? and “What do you need from the Church of the Holy Spirit to help these hopes and dream come to fruition? 

These are crucial questions for us all! They are going ask and require something from us: our time, our creativity, our resources, our sweat, our love, our prayers. May these questions and answers and all our efforts and actions reveal to Miles and to all of God’s children – you too!! – that we are beloved and that God is our home.  Amen.

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