2020.01.12 | God's Favorites
The day before Thanksgiving this past November, a nationally known self-avowed theologian who obtained his credentials from a Cracker Jack’s box, announced on national TV that our current President of the US was God’s chosen leader for this country and our world.
I don’t know about you, but that pronouncement was enough to make me choke on my Thanksgiving dinner. And, just so you know that I’m not up here making partisan statements, I will share that I have never thought or said--nor will I ever think or say--that any human leader is Messiah, God’s chosen one.
Earlier this week, I was asked through a Facebook feed which Presidential candidate running on the Democratic ticket I preferred.
I intermittently chose each one, which led me to the same page, passionately explaining why I needed to chip in to the Democratic coffers to make sure that whoever was on the Democratic ticket would have the war chest needed to defeat her or his opponent. None of this surprised me.
In a similar vein, but closer to home, recently I overheard siblings bantering about which one of them was their mother’s favorite. Each person was sure it was the other.
Their mother overheard the dispute and chimed in saying, “Neither of you is the favorite. I love you both the same.”
Neither of the kids bought it, but her comments shut them up, and they went on to a new topic of discussion.
Interestingly, each of the scripture readings for this subject deals with the specialness of a person in the Bible. The Hebrew Bible lesson from Isaiah envisions the coming of Messiah, the chosen one who would redeem Israel. The Epistle lesson from II Corinthians strives to settle a dispute over who is special in that early church community. And, the gospel reading presents Jesus as God’s beloved Son.
I suppose it’s natural for human beings to want notoriety, to feel special, and to be the favorite. Natural scientists would likely say that this is an adaptive trait that has ensured the survival of the species.
Studies such as the World Health Organization’s research on children raised in orphanages have shown that children who thrive, particularly in adverse situations, do so because they are more effective at attracting the attention of their caregivers and as a consequence receive better nutrition, more social stimulation, and higher levels of school success. Those who don’t lag behind, and some fail to thrive.
While seeking the attention of caregivers is normal for children and while it may be a behavior that contributes positively to human beings social, emotional, and physical health, I suspect that it is also a spiritual need that we harbor in our hearts, and that God is fully aware of our vulnerability and our need for divine love and attention.
In fact, I believe that God is most fully and profoundly striving to address this fundamental need in each one of us through the Sacrament of Baptism, starting with the baptism of Christ.
Today’s gospel reading in Matthew 3 describes the baptism of Christ. Here, Jesus presents himself to John and is baptized in the river Jordan.
The way that Matthew remembers the story, God says, “You are my beloved.”
Matthew phrases the statement this way to reveal to John—and everyone in his audience—that Jesus is God’s beloved. In Matthew’s view, Jesus does not need to be instructed that he is God’s beloved. John and the rest of us need to receive this instruction.
The story of Jesus’ baptism is central to the celebration of Epiphany. It is also the story on which the Christian sacrament of baptism is founded. In the United Church of Christ, our denominational tradition, and in Protestantism in general, we celebrate two sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist.
For us Protestants there are only two sacraments, while for Roman Catholics, there are seven. The Roman Catholic sacraments are: baptism, Eucharist, reconciliation, marriage, confirmation, holy orders (ordination), and anointing of the sick.
We take our cues from the protestant reformer, Martin Luther, about how many sacraments to celebrate. Luther argued that only rituals that Jesus participated in should be called sacraments. He referred to the other Catholic rituals as “rites.”
In today’s sermon I will attempt to explain the significance of the sacrament of baptism, for Christians in general, and explain some of the differences in practices and beliefs about this sacrament that have been handed on and embraced in our United Church of Christ tradition.
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The origins of Christian baptism are grounded in several ancient rites of initiation and cleansing. Both our Jewish ancestors, and the Greek and Roman pagans (who were Jesus’ contemporaries), practiced initiation and cleansing rituals that involved water and that symbolized acceptance into their respective communities.
Christian baptism is similar to Jewish and pagan rites of initiation and cleansing, but our sacrament has other distinctions and meanings that differ from these earlier practices.
The following questions and their corresponding answers, for example, distinguish Christian baptism from Jewish and pagan practices, and they distinguish various Christian denominations’ from each other:
1) What is the meaning of baptism? (I.e., what does the person become part of when they are baptized, and how are they transformed?)
2) What is the proper age for a person to be baptized? (I.e., should we baptize infants, or wait to baptize a person when they reach adolescence or adulthood?)
3) What is the proper amount of water to use in baptism? (I.e., should we sprinkle or pour water over the head of the baptized, or should we fully immerse the candidate?)
4) Who should be involved in the service of baptism? (I.e., is it enough that the pastor or priest and the baptismal candidate are present, or should godparents be chosen and included in the ceremony? Is baptism a private event that only needs to involve immediate family members and an officiant, or is the sacrament a more communal event that should involve the whole congregation?)
Think for a moment about your own experiences of baptism, either yours or the baptism of someone close to you. If you were baptized, do you remember your baptism? Or, were you so young when it occurred that you aren’t able to remember it? If you don’t recall your baptism, consider what you may have been told about that occasion by your family.
If you know that you were baptized—but you don’t remember the occasion—you were probably baptized as an infant by a priest or pastor who asked your parents questions about their beliefs, and about their commitment to raise you in the Christian faith. Those promises were sealed with a blessing said while the officiant sprinkled water over your head.
If you were baptized as an infant, following this formula, then you were no doubt raised in a Mainline Protestant congregation (much like Eden) or in a Roman Catholic parish.
If, on the other hand, you were baptized as a teenager or as an adult, and you do remember your baptism, then you know that you, not your parents, were asked a series of questions about your beliefs. If you were baptized in a Mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic parish, then you were probably sprinkled with a little water as the clergy recited the ancient baptismal formula over you, and offered a prayer of blessing.
If, however, you were baptized as a teenager or as an adult, and you were part of an evangelical tradition, you were likely expected to take baptismal classes before you participated in the sacrament, and if you were part of an evangelical or Pentecostal tradition, you were probably also expected to confess your sins, and affirm that Jesus Christ was your personal Lord and Savior, before you could be baptized. When you had completed each of these steps, then the pastor likely took you to the baptistery, or into a nearby river, lake, or pool and fully immersed you in the water while reciting the ancient baptismal formula and blessing.
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It may surprise some of you the United Church of Christ embraces all of these baptismal practices, and that we are the only Christian denomination that does. Why?
The answer lies in the heritage of our particular congregations. The United Church of Christ is a merger primarily of four different traditions: the Christian (much like the Disciples of Christ tradition that Pastor Marvin and Nadia are associated with), the German and Swiss Reformed (Calvinist), the Congregational (which is the heritage of this congregation), and the German Evangelical (which is a branch off of the German Lutheran denomination).
The Christian churches, which were founded during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th Century. Most of our congregation that grew out of this tradition are located in the Central Atlantic area of the United States. They practice full-immersion (also called “believers’ baptism”), while the Reformed, Congregational, and Evangelical traditions have practiced the sprinkling of baptismal candidates.
In the Christian congregations of the Central Atlantic area, infants are dedicated (just as they are in Baptist and Disciples of Christ congregations, and in Evangelical and Fundamentalist traditions), and teens and adults are encouraged to enroll in baptismal classes in order to prepare to receive the Sacrament of Baptism.
In the Reformed, Congregational, and Evangelical traditions, the complement to infant baptism is the Rite of Confirmation. At the same age that young people are taking baptismal classes in UCC congregations of the Christian Church heritage, teens from churches grounded in our other three traditions are enrolled in confirmation classes, and are encouraged to determine for themselves whether they will affirm their faith by joining a particular parish through the Rite of Confirmation.
Now, let me add another twist to this sacramental saga that has to do with the role of pastors and congregations. All of our four predecessor denominations that merged and became the UCC in 1957 brought with them the expectation that pastors would preside over the sacrament of baptism, but they parted company once again over the role of sponsors or godparents, and the congregation as a whole.
In the Reformed and Evangelical traditions that evolved from the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Continental Europe, sponsors or godparents were asked publicly to confess their faith in Christ, and to promise to help raise the child in the Christian faith. In the Congregational and Christian traditions, by contrast, people didn’t identify particular sponsors or godparents, because the entire congregation was expected to serve in that guiding and exemplifying capacity for the child.
Because there are a variety of practices within our UCC tradition, and because most of the adults who join Eden Church were not raised in the UCC, I simply ask parents whether they would like to identify particular people to serve as sponsors or godparents, or not. I also explain that we as a whole congregation serve as sponsors and mentors for their child, and this is why we celebrate the sacrament within the context of Sunday morning worship, when the whole congregation is present.
Having been reminded today of the many variations in baptismal practices, perhaps you have come to believe, as I do, that the United Church of Christ is a miracle! While other denominations have rung each other’s necks and created new denominations over our differences around practices and beliefs associated with baptism, the UCC has embraced all of these approaches and beliefs.
The wide variety of baptismal practices observed in the UCC is a curiosity, at best, and blasphemy, at worst, to our kindred in other traditions; but standing out in the crowd of Christians is not new for us! We’ve been doing that since the Pilgrims set sail for the New World.
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Now that I’ve described the basic differences pertaining to Christian baptism, allow me to be so bold as to say that the most important things you need to know and remember about the Sacrament of Christian Baptism are these:
1) We all use the same ancient baptismal formula, regardless of how much water we use, no matter what age a candidate is when we baptize, and no matter how many people are present at the celebration.
2) Baptism is a sacred act in which all Christians celebrate first and foremost God’s grace. God’s grace is not based on what we know, or what we have said or done. It is based on who God is, and what God has said and done for us.
3) You are welcome here at Eden Church, whether you were baptized or not. If you were baptized, you are welcome here regardless of whether the practices and teachings that surrounded your baptism are the same or different than what we practice and teach here.
4) If you have not already been baptized or dedicated, you are invited to receive this ministry. All you need to do is to say so and we will include you in this ministry, in the very near future.
5) Perhaps most importantly, remember this each time you ponder your own or another’s baptism. Remember that through the water and the words, God says to each and everyone one of us: you are my beloved.
Believe the good news of the gospel, friends. God loves us. We are precious in God’s site. We have been called to go and tell others that each and all of us are God’s favorites. Amen.