Pentecost, Babel & Baptism

In his book “What is thePoint of Being a Christian?” Timothy Radcliffe critiques the notion that baptism brings us into being a part of God’s family in any sort of exclusive way.  He suggests that “In baptism we die to all that divides us from other human beings; we are pointed beyond the small confines of any lesser identity.  Our parents, perhaps unknowingly, having received us as a gift from God, give us away.”

It is true to say that there is a sense in which we are brought by baptism into the Church but being a part of the Church is fundamentally about being truly human.  In this way baptism does not enclose in an exclusive group it opens us to reality of our identity as human beings.  This was told to us today in the readings as we heard the stories from Babel to Pentecost.  These stories are two sides of one coin: they are the story of God’s faithfulness to an unfaithful people.  I want to pick up on the connecting thread that runs through the two stories concerning the transition in the relationship between God and humanity.

To begin with the story of the tower of Babel we are taken back to a time not too distant from the great flood of Noah described in chapters 6-9 of Genesis.  Noah’s sons and their descendants peopled the earth and in Genesis 11 we are given an insight into their growing pride.  What is notable about these people is that there is only one people and one language in all of humanity and as God indicates in their unity human beings are capable of great things. 

So, prior to the tower of Babel there is only one people that inhabit the earth and these are all God’s people.  In a manner, which has clear echoes of the story of Adam and Eve, these people begin to believe the notion that they can control their relationship with God, that they have a right to build a tower up to heaven.  This idea denies God’s presence and care for them as God’s people and could even be seen as them challenging God.

The story carries with it a mix of sin and grace.  The people act in a manner that can only be considered unfaithful to the truth of their relationship with God but God in his grace does not choose the way of destruction again, that is to say another flood, but offers a new way forward.  God confuses the language of the people and in so doing turns one people into many nations. 

In this way the many different languages and dialects of the world created by God at this point serve as a metaphor to remind humanity of its fallibility and our place in relationship with God.  So the story of the Tower of Babel is a transition from one people to many nations.  However, this does not mean that God abandons humanity because from these many nations arise the one people of God called Israel.  Following the story in Genesis 11 the Scriptures lead us to Abram and his calling and the promise of God to him concerning Israel.

Now, as an aside, whilst God chooses Israel to be his people, Israel is chosen to be a priestly people and a light among the nations.  In other words Israel’s relationship with God as God’s people still serve as a representative group for all humanity.

The important thing to remember here is that prior to Babel one people, God’s people, true humanity, is a common people on all the earth.  The evolution of different languages at Babel is given as a corrective by God for human pride.

This brings us forward to the day of Pentecost.  Pentecost occurs 50 days after Passover and was a Jewish festival but this event among the believers in Jerusalem redefines its significance for the church.

The believers had gathered together and the Spirit came upon them.  The gift of the Spirit on that day had many signs: rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the speaking in tongues.  Each has its own allusions to Old Testament scriptures, but picking up the thread of language from the Tower of Babel what we hear about is most significant.  People spoke in their own language, people from the divided nations, but others were able to understand despite the fact they did not know the other languages. 

This is not so much a gift of tongues as a gift of hearing.  Douglas Adams in his novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy captures the idea of this gift in the strange animal called the “Babel Fish”.  In the story the Babel fish is a small fish inserted in the ear of a person that enables them to understand every other language.  (It is now also an online translation site) The Holy Spirit comes into the gathering of believers and does just this – enables them to hear in their own language.

What happens is a reversal of what had occurred at the tower of Babel.  Human beings separated by language were drawn back together in their ability to understand one another.  A significant aspect of this reversal though is that God did not heal everyone so that they all spoke the same language but rather were given a gift of understanding one another which did not diminish the cultural differences established by language.

Taken to its logical end the two stories of the Tower of Babel and the Day of Pentecost combine to speak to us of the truth of our being human is about the unity of all humanity.  The Church as the first fruits of the new creation is called to live as people of that unity now.  This means understanding exactly what Timothy Radcliffe expressed that baptism does not isolate us in some select group but incorporates us into what it real means to exist as a human being.

This has important implications for all who are baptised.  Yes baptism makes us part of the church, God’s family, but understood through the lens of a reversal of the Tower of Babel being a part of the church is meant to break down barriers not create some sort of exclusive community. 

Being baptised establishes a person in their relationship with God as well as all other human beings.  Baptism brings us into a restored and reconciled humanity in which people of different languages are made to understand one another and live as one once again.  This is the scandal of the Christian faith.

This means that the expression used by Radcliffe, that in allowing a child to be baptised parents in a sense give the gift that God has given them away, rings true.  Baptism takes us beyond our biological ties of family, beyond our cultural and linguistic ties and into something deeper and greater: a truly shared and common humanity.  In the Uniting church we recognised just such a truth in a response to a baptism when a congregation promises the following:

            With God’s help,

            we will live out our baptism

            as a loving community in Christ:

            nurturing one another in faith,

            upholding one another in prayer,

            and encouraging one another in service.

On an internal level this is a commitment to care for and nurture all in our midst as brothers and sisters in Christ.  This has very practical implications in the way that we support parents and children, of whatever age, come to know of God’s love.  We all have responsibility for one another.

Yet on an external level this is also a commitment to live openly witnessing to the world around us that God has reconciled us with one another and all things.  The Church is not to exist as some sort of religious ghetto constrained by an exclusive language or piety and culture that shuts others out.  No we are to live as people reconciled with one another for the sake of the world.  The people who were enabled to hear and understand the good news were not simply the Christians gathered on that day but the observers as well.

Of course this does not mean that all will hear and respond and understand – in fact sometimes it means quite the opposite.  People will ridicule and question us – have they been drinking?  Are they filled with new wine?  Proclaiming the gospel is not guaranteed with a positive response but our call to live as the one people of God, which is the new humanity, is at the heart of our faith.

The witness of the scriptures is clear that it is only through Christ and in the Spirit that this new humanity is formed put the promise is that it has been formed and we who are the Church are called to respond in a way which gives honour to God’s faithfulness and our new existence as God’s people.  

Jesus Baptism, A Voice from the Heavens, & Silence

“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.”

And a voice from heaven said?  I wonder if like me you have longed for, deeply desired, or craved for God to be saying something to you not simply through the scriptures or through another person, but God’s very voice.  The words of Matthew’s gospel are tantalising, they taunt us in the silence of our own lives.  A voice from heaven: what would it mean to hear a voice from heaven in your own life.  An audible word from God to you, not just a sense that God

As if to further tempt and tantalise us the two readings from the Old Testament tell of God’s speaking. It is in the reading from Isaiah who conveys what the voice of the Lord had told him.  And, it is in the Psalm, no less than seven times, “The voice of the Lord…” is over the waters, is powerful, is full of majesty, breaks the cedars, flashes forth, causes oaks to whirl and strips forests bare.  The voice of the Lord, a voice from heaven.  God’s powerful imposing voice is set before us, yet for many of us, I suspect most of us, the reality is that our experience of God is not the resounding voice but silence.

I am left wondering am I deaf?  Why cannot I hear this powerful and resounding voice?

In the last week a re-read Shusaku Endo’s brilliant novel “Silence”.  Written in 1966 Endo’s novel explores the silence of God in the face of the immeasurable suffering and persecution of Japanese Christians in the 17^th Century.  The key character, a Spanish Jesuit priest, cannot fathom God’s silence as he constantly prayers in the face of the brutal persecution and coercion by the Warlord to get him to denounce Christ.

What do we do we God’s silence?

Today I deliberately gathered in our church in the round surrounded by the prayers written on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that we have attached to the walls.  Expressions of our hope and faith in the face of problems that may, for many of us, seem insurmountable.  Will God be silent?  What answers will come?  Will God speak to us and answer these our prayers?

No doubt each of you has experienced God’s apparent silence in your life.  No doubt you to have felt the heart breaking reality of moments of feeling Godforsaken.  Where is the voice we long for? 

Returning to the scriptures and understanding why they were written can help us with this conundrum.  As always, I would note that when we pull a snippet of scripture from the Bible we don’t get a sense of the ebb and flow of the story that the author of a particular book is building.

Matthew opens his gospel by recounting the genealogy of Jesus back through David all the way to Abraham.  This is one of the reasons Matthew is the first of the gospels, despite not being written first.  Through his genealogy Matthew creates the bridge between the Old Testament and Jesus identity.  This was very important for Matthew’s first audience who were predominantly Jewish.  Jesus’ life is traced back through the Davidic line.

Following on from the genealogy Matthew tells us of the appearance of an angel to Joseph. The quotation of the words of the prophet and the birth of Jesus provide a further affirmation of Jesus importance.  There is the genetic connection and there is the prophetic connection.

The next story Matthew tells is somewhat unusual.  It is the story of the wise men from the East and Herod appears to give an importance to Jesus’ identity that breaks the barriers of the Israelite nation and implies Jesus’ coming is relevant to the whole world.

And, then, we come to the baptism of Jesus by John.  This is introduced with an explanation of John’s importance as the forerunner of Jesus and prophecies about their relationship.

Then in the baptism Matthew’s words witness to something that was beyond the common experience.  “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’” In traditional jargon we might call this a theophany – an appearance of God – and this theophany sits alongside a series of assertions concerning Jesus identity.

So why does Matthew need to build this story about Jesus identity?  What does he retell the story in the way he does? Why does he write it down? What was he hoping to achieve?

I think Matthew is building this argument for his audience about Jesus’ identity because they too have neither seen nor heard Jesus or God’s voice.  Not everyone gets to hear God’s voice.  You and I do not necessarily hear that audible voice of God in our lifetime.  Though we might desire it, seek it, and crave it.  Though we might discipline ourselves to reading the scripture and being in worship and prayer and contemplation.  So often what we experience is silence.

It is helpful to be reminded that the scriptures only ever report a very small number of people that hear God’s voice or as having a theophany.  The people of Matthew’s community, so long ago, were relying on his witness to them in the absence of their own opportunity to hear God’s voice.

The same is true for us we rely on the witness of others to sustain us in our faith.

Of course, part of our Christian understanding is that God is present with us and that in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, as well as the out pouring of the Holy Spirit, the opportunity for relationship with God is opened out in a new way.  This may be true but it does not necessarily equate to everybody being doled out a special spiritual experience all of their own. 

Matthew knew this and was encouraging people and nurturing people to hold on to their faith that Jesus was indeed who Matthew claimed he was: “the Messiah, the son of David, the Son of Abraham”, “God is with us” “the Nazorean”, “the Beloved, Son of God”. 

In his witness to Jesus’ identity Matthew is nurturing and encouraging people of faith to follow the teachings and way of Jesus, even if they do not experience or encounter a direct divine revelation all of their own.

This is important for us to reflect deeply on in 2017.  To believe in Jesus. To believe in God.  What a strange and difficult thing to do this is becoming!  The silence of God is palpable and people are responding and turning away from faith.  This week I read statistics that indicate in Australia over the last 20 years belief in God has dropped by just over 20%, down to 55%.  Only 1 in 2 people you meet on the street believe that there is a God.  And among younger people the results show around a third believe in God.

There are significant questions raised for me as we reflect on the readings that speak so strongly about God’s voice when we struggle to hear it for ourselves. What will help us hold on?

In a culture filled with the noise of so many voices: the advertisers enticing us to buy and consume; politicians encouraging us to vote; sceptics challenging our belief; scientists warning us of disasters.  Can we hear God’s voice above this clamour?

It makes me think of Elijah on the mountain top waiting for God to pass as he sat in the cave.  Was God in the fire, or wind, or thunder no God was in the sheer silence!

I think we need to be honest in our faith about the challenge of the silence and how we rely on the witness of others but also to remember that silence may not mean absence, indeed it does not!   Our faith is built on the witness of others.  On the witness of Matthew:

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus is worth listening to, he is worth following, he is God’s beloved. 

We may find that we do not have the miraculous encounters.  We might find that much of our faith is built on what others have taught us.  The silence of God or the lack of a miracle in my own life does not mean that God is any less real or any less present.  Living the faith involves patience and commitment and perseverance.  We wait in the cave alongside Elijah anticipating that God will pass.  And yes, we may be blessed enough to have a transformative encounter with God, but if we are not we can stay the course and hold our faith as we trust the message that has been handed down to us.

This kind of perseverance and patience is increasingly difficult in a world where everything is instantaneous.  We can have what we want tithe the click of a few buttons.  To be people of faith involves learning to be patient and to live differently in the world.

What do we do as we stand at the beginning of this New Year?  How do we be a community of faith? What is God asking of this little congregation?

At the beginning of the service I suggested that today we reflect on our own baptism and in the baptism service the congregation is invited to say these words:

With God’s help, 

we will live out our baptism

as a loving community in Christ:

nurturing one another in faith,

upholding one another in prayer,

and encouraging one another in service, 

until Christ comes.

Essentially for instructions to help us follow Jesus in our lives and live out our own baptism.

Live as a loving community in Christ – that means caring for each other, and the community we are part of.

Nurture one another in faith – that means being prepared to talk openly about our faith and to commit ourselves to learn more.

Upholding one another in prayer is self-explanatory.

Encourage one another in service means to become each other’s supporters.

As I was preparing for today I read an ancient writing of the church.  Written by Gregory of Nyssa’s around 1600 years ago his “Life of Moses” begins with a description of himself as being like a supporter at a chariot race he calls out in encouragement.

I know some of us here struggle to engage deeply in the mission and ministry of the church.  We are tired, some of us are unwell, and some of us are aging.  But we can support one another and we can sheer on and encourage those who do the work.

In doing these simple things we sustain one another in the silence and presence of God and it would be my prayer that we can learn again to share our faith with people who have fallen away from believing in God at all.

“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.”

A voice from heaven.  Do we hear it?  Does it matter?  We have heard the witness and we have believed and we are blessed.

It makes me think of Thomas’ encounter with the risen Christ when Jesus says to him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  “Blessed are those who have not heard the voice of God and yet have come to believe.”

“Blessed are you who have not heard the voice of God and yet have come to believe.”

Shouldering Life: A Baptism Sermon

Message: Shouldering Life

(Romans 8:, Matt 13:1-9)

May the words of my mouth

and the meditations of our hearts

be acceptable in your sight O lord

Our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

This morning I want to share a story with you.

It is a story about a family: a family that in many ways is not unlike your family.  There were parents, and there were children, and there were other relatives as well.  There were grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.

Like any family it was a family that had its ups and downs.  Sometimes there were fights and even disappoints, and sometimes there were great joys and happiness.

One day, into this family a child was born: a little boy came crying into the world.  He was a gift, for life itself comes to us as a mysterious gift.

Now this child, this infant boy, took this gift of life upon his shoulders. It was a gift he would carry throughout his whole life.

And so, like you and I grow and come to be aware of the world around us, so the little boy grew and came to be aware of the world around him.

And as he grew and carried this gift of life on his shoulders he came to understand simple yet challenging lessons.

He learnt that there were times that he had to share.

And he learnt that sometimes other members of his family seemed more important to his parents than him.  Generally speaking, parents don’t deliberately play favourites, yet often this is how we end up feeling.

So, there were times the boy felt jealous or angry or sad, just as there were times he felt happy and loved.

And, all of these experiences of life, the good and the bad became a part of the life that he carried on his shoulders, the life that he bore.

Growing up for any of us is not an easy thing and there times the boy was very good and there were times he was not, he got in trouble and learnt there were consequences to actions.  So, he learnt how to live this life he was carrying as he grew towards adulthood.

Approaching the end of school decisions had to be made: more education; a gap year; or, to work straight away?  Was there a right path and wrong one for him to take?  Or was there simply the journey he was on?

We all want to think that there is particular purpose and place for us and we hope we make good decisions, the right ones, but how do we know?  What is the test? Personal happiness? Wealth?  Or something else?  Is there a bigger picture?

The boy grew into a man and he trained and he found work, a career, a direction to travel and he learnt about being accountable with his responsibilities and with his money, and with the many temptations that he encountered.  And sometimes he was good and sometimes he made some decisions that he would regret, so he carried all of these things about life on his shoulders.

He met a young woman and there was a romance and there was love and more responsibilities came upon the man as he grew even older: helping provide for his family and his children, and trying to be an example for them and for others in the way that he lived.

It’s really no more or less than any of us do: we work, we meet our responsibilities to others, we try to live well and we carry the life we are given on our shoulders.

And the man grew older and found teenagers were difficult and sometime he lost his temper and sometimes he grew bored with all of the responsibilities he had, so much so that at times he forgot how this life that he was carrying on his shoulders was a gift. 

For there were many times that he his life felt full of things and became a very heavy burden.

And the man grew older, and he knew the joy of his children finding partners and he rejoiced at the birth of his own grandchildren and he carefully shouldered these joyful memories into the life that he was carrying.

Like those of you who have retired, he confronted the conundrum of time unfolding before him far too quickly.  He wondered about what life would mean without work, as did his spouse for they were simply not used to being around each other that much.

Yet taking it all on his shoulders and bearing his life somehow he adjusted to this new phase of life and as he approached his later years his body did not work the same, nor his mind, and this lead to frustration and even disappointment. Yet, somehow, the man knew that the gift of life that he shouldered as a tiny baby had been a full one.

And as he looked back and thought about how well he had done and at times just how poorly he had done he wondered how his life would be measured: how it would be viewed: how he would be judged.

Whatever others might say about this one life, this life shouldered and carried by this old man, the one who gave him the gift of life in the beginning also bore the burden with him.

And the graciousness of the gift giver is to look with eyes filled with love upon the life of this old man, this child of God, who looks back. There is no condemnation from the gift giver, there is none, nothing, not a bit – for the gift giver has taken the joys and pains, and the good decisions and the bad, and has said I love you with an everlasting love.

And such is the love of the gift-giver that this gracious gift of life and love is flung about like so many seeds from the hand of sower planting with indiscriminate and reckless abandon, the good news which comes to all of us!  You are not condemned! You are mine and you loved!

Amen.

Today is a joyous day we share in the baptism of Umaola and I want to share with before the family comes forward the meaning of Umaola’s name.  The name was given to Unga and Catherine from a friend of the family and it is a completely unique name as far as we know.

Uma means shoulders and Ola means life.  So his name means to carry life.  Yet on this day we remember that he will not carry alone for in baptism God shares in his life and ours through Jesus who is our friend and companion on the journey.

Pentecost: Baptism, Lawn Mowing & Hope

This morning is a time of celebration, a time of renewal, a time of hope.  A time of hope in which we face the struggles we share as individuals and the struggles we face as a human race and we say there is more to life than this: there is God.

We do this by remembering the pouring out of the Holy Spirit which draws us home into relationship with God; we do this by remembering our own baptisms and as we baptise Wesley; and we do this by breaking bread and drinking from the cup of Christ.  In the act of our remembering God we believe and hope that God will transform us.

One of the most fundamental questions we can ask is, 'what is the purpose of my life?'  Today, in the context of our remembering we hear an answer to this question which as people who follow Jesus defines the purpose of our lives.  We who are baptised into the community of faith live out our baptisms: this is our purpose to be disciples of Jesus.

So how does this look?  In the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians he writes,

4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

The gifts that we are given are for the building up of the whole, they are for the common good.  I want to show you an example of what it has meant for one person to live out their baptism here in this congregation.

I want to invite Vic to come and join me on this chair at the front. 

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter of resignation from Vic from the lawn mowing roster.  He was the only one left on it.  To give you an idea of the extent of this service Vic has been on the lawn roster in this church for around 50 years.  This is basically from when he and Jean moved up from Melbourne.

Vic has served in many other ways in the congregation.  He has been a Sunday school teacher and boys club teacher, he has been on the Property Management Committee, he has been an Elder and on Church Council.  Yet, his faithfulness to keeping our yard tidy has spanned more years than I have been breathing.

I'm not sure this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians about a variety of gifts and services but I have no doubt that Vic has understood this is what it means to live out his baptism and in this it is precisely what Paul was writing about.

When I asked Vic about why he kept doing it for so long, at first, he joked that he was too dopey to get off the roster.  But I know Vic better than this so I pressed him a little further.  It has long been Vic's opinion that the worst witness a congregation can give to the local community is to have an untidy property.

For Vic, keeping the property tidy has always been about witness.  As a disciple of Christ, he has been living out his baptism to ensure that this congregation has a good reputation in the community and always looks welcoming and loved for those who come here.

We were discussing Vic's long and loving service to the congregation the other night at Bible Study and it lead us into a conversation about our rosters in the congregation.  Why do we have them? Why do we do them?  What purpose do they serve?

Very quickly John reflected into the conversation that the rosters are an expression of our love.  To push his comment a bit further I would suggest it is an expression of our love for God, our love for one another, and our love for others.  In this, it should and can become an expression of our hospitality as God’s people as we use our gifts for the common good, building up the whole!

Participating in these rosters can reflect our baptism, yet in our life as a congregation they are only one side of the story. I suggested the other evening at Bible Study that in the shifting sands of culture that maybe as we face the future new and different rosters will be needed.  Rosters which encourage us to think more deeply about the world and community around us.

I'd like to invite Naa to come and bring Wesley to the front and sit on this other chair.

This morning we will baptise Wesley.  The world and life into which Wesley is being baptised is, in so many ways, vastly different to the world that Vic was baptised into.

This is not simply because Wesley is being baptised in Australia and will go home and grow up in Ghana but because in the last 80 years the world has got a whole lot smaller and the big issues we face as humanity and also as the church are shared internationally.

So, the question for us this morning is what challenges lie ahead for Wesley as he, encouraged by Naa and Franklin, learns what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to live out his baptism.

If we consider for a moment the world that Vic was born into.  He was born as the world headed into depression and he grew up during a time of war.  It was a time when the church in Australia and the Western world in general was pretty strong.  But the advances in technology from the time of his birth to now are absolutely mind blowing – transport, science, communication, education, health care, standards of living almost unrecognisable.

In this year that Wesley has come to us we face a sense of being a global community like no other time in history.  Religious sectarianism is strong, as is the growth of atheism.  As a global community we face the changing of the climate, sea level rises, world food shortages and wars fought over access to water and arable land.  Millions of refugees traverse the globe fleeing conflict whilst in wealthy countries the standard of living continues to rise as do the technological advances.

For Wesley to live as a witness to Christ’s love and hope in this world it will be different than it was for Vic.  Maybe, just maybe, he might mow a church lawn but maybe, just maybe, more will be asked of him as he discerns gifts of understanding and wisdom in the face a the great issues of his time.

The pouring of God’s Holy Spirit indicates that God is aware of the changing context of our lives as humanity.  The Spirit is dynamic and renewing and refreshing and leads us to new insights and new hope.   The Spirit inspires us with new gifts pertinent to our era.

Maybe church rosters will develop new emphases which not only create a place of welcome but a responsibility to be apostles: which means those who are sent out to share the good news. 

This morning is a time of celebration, a time of renewal, a time of hope.  A time of hope in which we face the struggles we share as individuals and the struggles we face as a human race and we say there is more to life than this: there is God.

We do this by remembering the pouring out of the Holy Spirit which draws us home into relationship with God; we do this by remembering our own baptisms and as we baptise Wesley; and we do this by breaking bread and drinking from the cup of Christ.  In the act of our remembering God we believe and hope that God transforms us and lead us to live out our baptisms as disciples, being living signs of the hope that we have for the whole world.

Celebrating New Life!

On any given Sunday we can have a variety of motivations for dragging ourselves out of bed to come to church. This Sunday I suspect one of the emotions may have been because you were anticipating a celebration. Today we celebrate a faithful life: Nev will receive the Moderator’s Community Service Medal. There may be other reasons you have shown up here today but celebration is certainly an aspect of why we here today.

Somewhat coincidentally I had already chosen the theme for today’s service which is “Celebrating New Life”. One of the particular ways the church has celebrated new life is to baptise people. This morning we heard from Paul’s letter to the Romans about how we are baptised in Jesus life, his death and his resurrection and because of this we are to walk in newness of life. Now that may all sound a bit complex, and I thought so too, so I rang Nev to ask him about what had motivated him live the way he has serving others.

Nev told me a wonderful story of when he was sent to Mt Isa to work as a young man in his early twenties. Mt Isa was full men, lots of young men, and many of them spent much of their spare time drinking. Nev had a choice to make about how he was going to live his life. It was at this time he got involved with a minister who had a vision of building a church. He was making bricks out of sand every Saturday and Nev along with 5 or 6 other joined him in this crazy project.

Somewhere in participating in this crazy vision Nev through his work and service became more committed to God. To use Paul’s language I would suggest Nev was walking in newness of life.

Now this newness of life according to Paul is grounded in our connection to Jesus which signified in baptism. This knowledge led me to ask Nev about his baptism.

Nev was baptised as an infant and he said something along the lines that he doesn’t think very much about it or its implications. He was confirmed later in the Anglican Church but really it was in catching the crazy vision of this minister and building a church that Nev really found his faith.

Now whilst Nev would not necessarily use this language I would suggest to you that in making those bricks Nev was living out his baptism.

To help you understand this I want you to just for a moment concentrate on your breathing. You Can you feel it going in and out? Can you hear it? Can you hear some else close by you breathing?

With each breath your lungs are doing an amazing job, extracting the oxygen, putting into your heart chamber from where your heart will hurtle the oxygen through your body keeping you alive and upright where you are sitting.

Try stopping for too long and you will know just how important it is. But until I told you to think about it you probably were not even aware that you were doing it. It is an incredible and complex process which is so natural and so necessary that in general it just keeps happening.

I want to suggest to you that living out our baptism is as natural breathing. Our lives which are connected to Jesus life produce the fruits of that connection in all its simplicity and complexity.

We are baptised into Jesus life, his death and his resurrection and today as we remember that living out our baptism is as natural breathing I want us to pause, like we did before to concentrate on our breathing, and consider what it means to live in newness of life, celebrate new life, to live our baptisms.

I want to do this by looking briefly at the overarching implication but then considering each of three aspects of the connection: life, death and resurrection.

First and foremost then living out our baptism is as natural breathing because it comes to us as a gift. We are joined to Jesus life, death and resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit and it is this gift that gives us the gift of new life. It is God’s love enacted in us and we cannot make it happen, it is God who has done these things for us. We can receive and celebrate with grateful thanks this gift of grace. Yet as recipients of this grace we are invited to participate in celebrating that new life so let us consider what being baptised into Jesus life, death and resurrection means.

What does it mean to be baptised into Christ’s life if living out our baptism is as natural breathing?

During the week I asked another of our congregation members how it was she made the decision to leave her family, especially her husband and young children, to come to Australia for 18 months or so to study. Her answer was clear she had keep God in her mind in her decision making and sought God’s guidance.

As people who are baptised into Jesus life we look at Jesus who constantly did God’s will and sought God in what he was doing. We read the stories of Jesus of Nazareth who in his life was a teacher, a critique, a healer, a friend, a wise and holy man. In considering his way of life and seeing his constant connection to the one whom he called father we learn to keep God in our hearts and minds as well because we know God cares what happens in this life.

What does it mean to be baptised into Christ’s death if living out our baptism is as natural breathing?

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he asks, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?”

It may sound strange to think about being baptised into someone’s death as something to celebrate but I want to explore just a couple of things that this might mean.

Firstly, in knowing Jesus was God in our midst it means that God understands our suffering because God has experienced suffering. When I see people suffering, when I feel suffering in my own life I know that God is not a stranger to what we go through. God is not the cause of suffering but rather walks with us in it. God is no stranger to death and in Jesus takes within the divine life those moments of suffering and pain we experience.

Secondly, the implication new life is that there was and is an old life. As people we know we are not perfect, we are human and we are fallible. The first day I met Nev he introduced himself to me as ‘Neville the Devil”, he knows he is not perfect.

In Jesus death he also takes into himself those moments we turn away from God and turn away from each other. Living our baptism may be as natural as breathing but is only so because God in Jesus has made it possible for we who would rather reject God’s ways to do so.

And lastly, what does it mean to be baptised into Christ’s resurrection if living out our baptism is as natural breathing?

I would share two thoughts on this particular idea. The first is that we live our connection to Jesus resurrection in those moments when we consciously or unconsciously walk in newness of life witnessing to God’s love for the world in our words and actions. This might be something as simple as making bricks to help build a church or teaching children or helping people with disabilities or speaking out for the marginalised. When Jesus sent out the seventy he encouraged to let others know that the kingdom of God had come near. Any time this is happening the hope of Jesus resurrection is being realised. It is said the church are a resurrection people and so we proclaim these things as we seek to live them.

On the other hand, there are times in our lives when our deep desires and concerns for ourselves, our loved one and this world around us seem overwhelming. I am aware that for many a parent the deepest concern in their heart is for the good of their children and the relationship that they would desire their children might have with God. I am aware that for many people concerns about the magnitude of the issues we face as a society, issue like poverty and conflict and ecological disaster, are too overwhelming.

When things are beyond us and beyond our powers we throw our hopes and dreams on God who has the power to bring life from death in the hope that those things which we find are beyond us are not beyond God.

Today many of us came to celebrate Nev’s award, but lying underneath this recognition is the Celebration of New Life; we are baptised people, connected to Jesus in his life, death and resurrection. I don’t think many of us are that conscious of this much of the time but that is because living out our baptism is as natural breathing? It just happens as a gift of grace around us and we celebrate our new life: we are baptised into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Rejoice: A Baptism!

by Peter Lockhart

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

On this day as we gather for A’s baptism it is not difficult for any of us to have a sense that rejoicing, praying and giving thanks to God is an appropriate response to celebrating this day. The birth of any child can elicit such a response from parents, grandparents, family friends. It is more often than not a time of deep joy and gratitude. We can have sense of God’s goodness and the wonder of life.

Of course such spiritual moments of knowing God’s presence are not restricted to the birth and baptism of a child. People find experiences of God in many places on a mountaintop, in a concert, in the early morning on a surfboard, in the gathering of loved family and friends, and dare I even suggest here in a place like this, a church, sharing with other Christians in bread and wine. Moments when we find our hearts are lifted at the joy of the experience life in all its mystery and wonder.

Yet, whilst it may be easy on this day to rejoice in this particular setting, if we go back to the time when the apostle Paul wrote his letter the time and the experience of the people within that time were quite different.

The letter was written around 30 years after Jesus death and resurrection, to what was probably quite a small group of Philippians, who had become followers of Jesus. Among their number were both Jews and gentiles who lived under the rule of the Roman Empire.

It is more than likely this early community of followers of Jesus found themselves at the margins of the society. They were probably being harassed and ostracized because of their decision to follow Jesus. This tension came from both Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities.

In Paul’s letter to them I have sense that he is encouraging them to make room in the lives for who God was and what God had done. He was encouraging them with the themes that the church has subsequently chosen as the advent themes: hope, peace, joy and love. To hope in Christ’s return! To know that God is a God of peace who makes people holy! To love each other as God had loved them! And, to rejoice in the Lord always!

Doing these things, making room for God, was a task which would take energy and effort and so Paul’s letter is a letter of encouragement to the Philippians.

Now I’m going to use this image of making room as a rather clunky segue into R. and T. lives. T. and R. have recently been literally making rooms in their lives. They have been doing refurbishments and extensions in their home.

I have only listened briefly to their experience of ‘making room’, or at least changing them, but have picked as I have heard many time from people who have worked on improving their property, and as we have experience as a congregation recently, that it takes a lot of effort to make changes.

There is a physical commitment to move things round and help. It takes time; time to meet contractors and builders, time to do aspects of the work yourself. It can be a drain on your emotions but in the end it can be uplifting. It involves our spirits as we lean on our and our inner reserves to make decisions about what is right. And it impacts our bank balance as we play with numbers and finances to get the job done. The experience of making the effort to physically make rooms can in itself change our lives and more so becomes a lesson for us in other changes we face.

Earlier this year T. and R. were confronted with making room for A. within their lives as a family; no longer simply a couple now you are a family. And no doubt in this, making room for A. there have physical, chronological, spiritual, financial and emotional impacts for you. Your lives have been significantly altered and will continue to be from now on.

In making room for A. in your life you have stepped, consciously or not, in faith. What life has in store for you now as a family cannot be fully know or seen. The consequences of your decision to make room for A. will unfold in the years ahead on a journey that simply will go on throughout your whole life.

That journey may contain a whole raft of experiences and emotions. It’s great to have your parents here today and no doubt if we were to ask about the journey they have been on with you since you were A’s age we would hear stories of joy and laughter, but also maybe of times of frustration and sorrow and pain. Maybe we would also hear about how different the world is now to what it was when you were infants.

We cannot clearly see what the future will bring any of us but we hope that there will be times of great joy but also understand there may be difficult times of great difficulty sorrow.

In the midst of our experiences of life as Christians we believe that God makes room for us in God’s life. As we gather today celebrating A’s baptism connects us with a story bigger than our personal experiences of life.

God makes room for us not simply because we believe God made this world in which we live but in the gift of the incarnation when God becomes one of us. In less than two weeks time we celebrate and remember that Jesus was born. He is called in the biblical “God with us”. Jesus is God sharing in our human lives.

But it is more than that because as God shares in our lives God to make room within God’s life so that we might share in that. And I would suggest to you, to follow my theme, that God makes a supreme effort to o this, make room for us.

It is the hope that we find that God has made room for us and we too can share in God’s life that we celebrate today for A. but also with each other. In midst of everything that we hear and see and feel through our earthly existence the incarnation invites us to see beyond the present reality and find hope in this message – that we too have a share in God’s eternal and divine existence.

This is a vital message for us to hear on this day. In the midst of a rapidly changing world in which, despite this moment of joy, there is so much suffering and hardship and change occurring in celebrating A.’s baptism we look to God with hope.

When we see the bigger picture of what is occurring across the globe and in peoples’ lives everywhere. We know as celebrate this day 100s of children will have died from preventable causes; there is war and tension destroying the lives of millions; millions of refugees, fleeing horrific circumstances, have found themselves incarcerated in camps or detention centres as illegal immigrants, families in Connecticut are mourning yet another American gunman tragedy; the climate is warming, species are dying out; the way we communicate with one another is in flux.

We can blithely ignore all of these things occurring on our world, protected within the blessings of our own lives, or we can admit openly the concerns it raises for us and for our children and how we will raise them as followers of Christ and bearers of hope in this world.

A.’s baptism is an invitation to see that whatever life holds there is a promise of hope and peace and joy and love given to us by God that we can share in and experience now. It is also a reminder to look forward to a time yet to come in which the sufferings of this present age will pass.

And for all of us it is also an invitation to be an active part of that community of faith, the church, which helps to remember these things and God’s presence in our lives each and every day and to act on them as people who are caretakers of the good news of God’s love.

The good news is that God has gone to the effort of making room for us and for we who have any idea of what it means to make room for something in our lives we turn in grateful thanks and praise again to God and rejoice this day.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Photo: Judy Lockhart

Jesus Baptism

by Peter Lockhart

(My last sermon with Kairos Uniting Church: Clayfield Hamilton Congregation)

It is entirely appropriate that on this last occasion that I preach here that my last words to you are about the eternal Word. The baptism of Jesus, the eternal word of God, focuses our attention on what is important for this day just as it has been through my 8 years here, Jesus. And so, this is also a sermon about beginnings, not endings, for the baptism of Jesus signalled the beginning of his ministry and so reveals God’s purposes in him.

I think I will be eternally grateful to my systematic theology teacher Gordon Watson who encouraged me to write a paper about Jesus called “Christ, the Spirit & Worship”. Although, it’s subtitle has more bearing on what I will be saying today: “The accommodation of the Spirit in Christ's obedience with reference to the relationship to doxology, as understood in John 17:19.”

Now whilst this may sound like another language to some of your ears this phrase for me heralds us into the presence of the mystery of the idea that God became a human being and the doctrine of the Trinity: the incarnation. On one level there is nothing that may appear practical about this theology yet for me it is the heart of our faith.

The concepts to which I am referring can be explored in Mark’s description of Jesus baptism.

If we were to stop and think for a moment the whole notion of Jesus baptism by John should jar against our senses. The Baptist was in the wilderness baptising people with a baptism of repentance and of forgiveness of sins. The word repentance means “turning back to God” – it as if we are facing away from God and the act of repentance is changing our position from having our backs to turned, to looking towards the one who made us.

The offence of Jesus baptism by John is that here is one who Mark has already described as the Son of God acting as if he is out of step with God – facing away.

Anyone reading this story must wonder where this story is going. How incomprehensible is it that Jesus, who is God’s Son and therefore must be facing God, needed a baptism of repentance?
The answer purely and simply must be that Jesus did not need such a baptism for himself but through his actions was symbolising the divine action that was occurring in and through his life.

Jesus presence in the world, the presence of God’s eternal Word enfleshed, involves the full identification of God with what it means to be human. God in himself is offering his own life to us by sharing in our life.

Jesus baptism of repentance is not a baptism for his sake but for ours, on our behalf, for our sake. Jesus does need to turn back to God, we do, and because as Paul later wrote, our lives are hidden in Christ’s, it his repentance not ours that opens up eternal life and right relationship with God and each other.

This is why our own baptisms as Christian people are so important: because they signify that our lives are drawn into Jesus own baptism and our lives are now shaped by being baptised people – people who in Christ and by God’s grace are turned back to God, not through our action of turning towards God but Jesus.

The mystery of Jesus baptism is further convoluted by the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus. For those who understood Jesus to be the Son of God in Mark’s era the idea that Jesus did not already have the Spirit of God upon would have been strange. And, later hearers of the scripture, who had come to a Trinitarian understanding of God’s life, would think that this was even more bizarre.

Jesus the eternal Word of God had existed eternally with the Father and the Spirit and this unity of the Godhead, Father, Son and Spirit could not logically cease through the incarnation – the inviolable unity of the Trinity must have remained. So why does the Spirit appear?

Once again it is not for Jesus own sake that the Spirit is seen descending like a dove but for those who witnessed the event and ultimately for God’s purposes in salvation. The Holy Spirit shares in the life of the incarnate Word as Jesus the Christ accommodates the Spirit into his fleshly life. It is in the sharing of this life that the Spirit of God is then poured out after Jesus’ death into his disciples and then among all peoples in order that people might be drawn in Jesus and by the Spirit into sharing in God’s own life.

What is occurring in and through Jesus is no less than the re-creation of the world! This morning we heard the beginning of the creation story from Genesis and so just as the Spirit hovered over the waters at the moment of creation so too the Spirit hovered over Mary’s womb and now at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry – his baptism.

This is the heart of the Christian story – a story not about my repentance or yours, a story not about mysterious encounters with the divine, a story not about my personal relationship with Jesus or decision to follow him. It is the story of God’s decision and action in and through Jesus Christ to renew the creation. It is a story bigger than any of personal stories and experiences of God yet compassionate and aware enough to draw our personal stories into that grand narrative of God’s love for the world.

In this sense I have no words to give other than to reaffirm Jesus, the eternal Word made flesh. He is God’s gift to the world and to know God means to know Jesus and to know Jesus means to know God. In him we see God in the world and we know and have our hope fulfilled that God loves, God gives, God makes new, God forgives, God heals, ultimately that God is!

Jesus baptism and descent of the Holy Spirit point at this reality of God. It is a sign and symbol of God’s intention not simply for those witnessed that gathered and saw John baptise Jesus but for we and the whole creation.

The act of Jesus baptism is a symbol of God’s love and grace, and so also is it that which it symbolises. In the same way that Jesus baptism is a symbol of God’s love and action in the world so too is our gathering as baptised people here today.

In a world which continues to join lustily in the refrain that “God is dead” our gathering and the gathering of congregations everywhere declare Jesus repentance and celebrate in hope a promise for all creation. Everything will be made new! Our feast at the table reminds us that we are people of this new creation as we have a foretaste of the banquet of all nations at peace with Gdo and one another.

In this, the church is that which it signifies, it is the beginning of the new creation. We do not make the new creation; we cannot offer any word to the world; nor any other salvation to the world, other than one already given in Jesus life, death, resurrection and ascension. We are to be a light to the nations not because we behave or live as people turned back to God but because we live acknowledging the one who turned back to God on our behalf and in whose life we share by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our purpose in being the church is none other this to point away from ourselves and at the author of our salvation who has made us to a light among the nations, just as the Israelites were to be a light among the nations. We exist as the church not for our own ends, not to make nice social gatherings, or little Holy clubs but to remind the world that God is and God has a future for the whole creation even when all we can see is death and despair.
So my last word to you in my preaching here is I believe as it should be simply the Word: Jesus. He is the only message that the church really has because in him God has redeemed the world and has begun a new creation which by grace and through the Holy Spirit you and I already have encountered. May God bless you all with wisdom and the Spirit to continue to share and celebrate this message in your lives.

Making Promises: Baptism!

Is it important to keep the promises we make, especially ones made in public?

Ask any of the Australian public about it at the moment and I am sure the answer would be yes. The thought that our PM may have reneged on a promise seems to be unforgivable.

But maybe its some promises we make and not others?

I have recently been reflecting on baptism (here) and it's integrity in our contemporary setting.

Many families who come seeking baptism are not currently attending church and once the baptism is done are rarely seen again. This, despite promises to engage in the life of the church that they make in the context of the baptism service.

When discussing this recently with congregation members I described the promises made in baptism as at least as important as the ones made at a wedding. They are a life-long commitment and involve choices about daily life and involvement in the worshipping life of the church.

This means as part of the conversation I begin to open up a commitment to attending church and church membership.

The question raised was whether or not it was right for me to put the 'hard word' on so early. The example given was that when you make a choice to marry someone you go through a courting period, then an engagement, before reaching the altar.

After reflecting a little more on this, what I have realised is, that for those people who have come simply to get the kids baptised the promises they are making are a bit like an arranged marriage. The people make the promises and then develop the relationship.

Of course we could be critical of this approach but I am caught in two minds as I picture Jesus walking along a beach and saying follow me to a bunch of fishermen. He called them and then they developed the relationship.

I continue to think that as long as I seek to faithfully convey the depth of promise that is being made, and being made in a public setting, then it is up to the family to live out that promise and the congregation, that also makes promises, to help them do so.

The question that parents and congregation should consider is that when the children we baptise are all grown up whether we will be able to answer the questions they might have for us:

Why didn't you take me to church?

Why didn't you tell me about God's love in Jesus?

Did you do everything you could to help me understand the Christian life?

You taught me about everything else, why not faith?

Why did you let others indoctrinate me?

Which baptism, what school?

Is baptism simply another hoop to jump through so you can get your kids into the right school?

It seems that there are many people who think so.

A friend recently related a story of a Priest who asked a group of 14 couples coming for baptisms whether any were doing it simply to make sure their kids got into Catholic schools. 12 couples put their hands up.

This story reflects 2 dinner party conversations related to me where the conversation revolved around which church baptism led to which church school.

Of course, one can take the view that, even despite cynicism of this approach to infant baptism, it still provides an opportunity for the church to engage with the family and share the unconditional grace of God with those families.

Yet, is the hope of this proclamation taking place enough to retain the integrity of baptism?

I have never said no to parents who are willing to answer the questions within the baptismal liturgy and I always endeavour to help people understand the importance of the promises.

They are making a covenant (promise) with their children and the church, a covenant that they must take responsibility for.

The congregation also makes a covenant to support the parents and children of families come to grow in their faith.

The integrity can, and more often than not is, compromised by parents and congregations that have never really entered into the covenant fully.

So how to answer the question “Which baptism, which school?”

The one baptism of the one church (in Australia 11 churches recognise the common baptism) introduces your child to the school of Jesus Christ.

Baptism initiates children and parents into the life of discipleship, learning from Jesus as the one true teacher par excellence.

Is this not the school baptism draws us in to? Is the expectation of baptism as a requirement for entry into so-called Christian schools idolatry that diverts our attention from the main game? Do we really as baptised people invest enough time at sitting and learning from our master teacher Jesus?

Peter Lockhart

Photo from Creative Commons

Baptism with Integrity

How do we recover a sense of the central importance of baptism?

Some churches have sought to do so by rejecting infant baptism in favour of adult baptism, yet whilst those adult baptisms I have done have been particularly meaningful, there is something to be said about the wonder of grace expressed in baptising an infant.

The words of the baptismal prayer from the French Reformed Church capture this wonderfully "for you, little child, event though you do not know it."

However, again and again the significance of the event appears lost on people and whilst grace may be proclaimed in that moment the ongoing witness of a life lived in Christ appears so often either obscured from view or simply neglected.

In his book Atheist Delusions David Bentley Hart provides a snapshot of anancient liturgy and the commitment involved in entering the waters of baptism (p111-113).

He describes how, in the ancient world, baptism and the inculsion in the Christian community of faith invovled a clear turning away from other gods, from the realm of darkness and the devil.

It meant turning towards Christ and living following his way.

Whilst I was baptised as an infant, Hart's words nonetheless reminded me of my own conviction that my baptism, is core to my life. Living as a person baptised into Christ's body is the determinative marker of my life.

This means that I view baptism as one of the most, if not the single most, significant events of my life. Through baptism my life has been drawn into Chirst's and the Spirit shapes my life now as a witness to God's love and grace.

Baptism, which signifies for me my life live in Christ and as a disciple of Jesus, shapes me and informs me in my vocation, my marriage, my role as a father and as a friend. The list could go on.

My memory of the event has little importance to me but my living of it is central to who I am, for now I am not simply my own, set adrfit in a universe alone, but I am Christ's.

I find great empathy for Hart's reminder of the central importance of baptism and all that it meant so long ago.

Similarly, I find a great connection to Ben Myer's parable about baptism, and ask are we clergy too ready to give a wink and a nod to those who come askign to have their child christened?

How do we proclaim that uncondiotional grace which has a necessary response without turning grace and faith into judgement and works?

Maybe it is in witness? So I give thanks for parents and for a church who in faith and in trust gave to me this gift of baptism and to the God who has been faithful to me in nurturing and guiding me.

Peter Lockhart

Once you were not a people

In the gloom of the upper room after Jesus had predicted his betrayal and Judas had gone out, after Jesus had alluded to his death and Peter’s denial had been predicted, Jesus sought to comfort his followers. He said to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”

These words, which are so often read at funerals, are words to help the living go on living: living with hope, living with God, living with each other.

It may be that many people see that the heart of Christianity is the promise of eternal life, the promise of the many rooms in my Father’s house. Yet, from John’s perspective eternal life is, knowing the Father and the Son whom he sent, as we live in this world.

This means the aim of being a Christian is not simply what we get when we die but how we live as the people of God now.

We are people defined in our existence by our baptism into Jesus’ life and death, for this is what makes us truly what we are. Just as was read from Peter’s letter, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

As God’s people, people who have received mercy, we are called to live as grateful recipients of God’s grace in all that we do, believing in God and also believing in Jesus.

Baptism in a secular age

It is commonly recognised that we live in a secular age – an age in which we modern human beings have departed from any sense of the divine in the world around us. It is not simply the rejection of God by militant atheists but the lack of spiritual connectedness in many people ensconced in institutional religion.

In this secular age we have an overblown sense of control over our lives, of our community, of nature, and of the world. This is reflected by both our faith in scientific progress to fix the massive ecological crises we face and the litigious nature of our society in which we seek to blame others for anything that happens.

In his book Requiem for a Species Clive Hamilton explores the denial of global warming. A supporter of the science surrounding global warming, Hamilton says, “If the great forces of Nature on our home planet turn against us, who will not feel abandoned and alone in the cosmos?”

As followers of Jesus the question is whether or not we would find ourselves answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to Hamilton’s question. What will happen if everything goes bad? Will we lose faith? Will we feel abandoned? Or will we find resolve and strength in our faith?

Jesus warned his disciples that there were trials and tribulations that lay ahead, both on a grand scale (wars and earthquakes) and on a very personal scale (when parents and brothers would betray them).

Yet in the face of the trials and tribulations that the disciples faced and the ones which we might face Jesus promise is to give us words and wisdom, to be present in our lives through the Spirit and to shape us for his will even in context of great persecution and hatred.

When we baptise children or adults in the context of this knowledge we are declaring a great hope in the promise of God, in the victory of Jesus over death and the promise of new life. As baptised people the purpose and meaning of our life is grounded not simply in the good or bad experiences we might have but in the promise of the unconditional love of God shown to us in and through Jesus.

Baptism sets us on a different life direction and puts us out of step with much the world around us would have us be and do. Helping one another to live out our baptism requires wisdom and patience, commitment and passion, love and humility all of which come to us as gifts of the Spirit.