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The Third Sunday After Christmas
January 10,
2010 The Rev. William Van Oss, Rector
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Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Make us your people through the waters of baptism, transform us, so that we might transform our world. Amen
I learned a very interesting piece of St. Paul’s history last week. I learned that in 1956 Father John Hildebrand, then rector of St. Paul’s transformed baptism here. You see, up until 1956 the custom was for babies to be baptized in private ceremonies, either in peoples’ homes, or here at church on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Family and a couple of sponsors would gather with the priest, the water would be blessed and poured, followed by a few goodies. That was that. There was no ceremonial connection to the wider church community.
The focus was washing away the stain of original sin. Sometimes called “the sin of Adam,” passed down to us by virtue of our being humans. This stain needed to be washed away soon, for there was fear of what would happen to the baby’s eternal soul if she dies before being baptized. We can thank the theologians of the Middle Ages for difficult concepts like “Limbo” and “Purgatory.” Infant baptism had become the norm during the Middle Ages because of the high rate of infant mortality and these theologians, prior to that the norm was to baptize adults after a long period of formation and discernment. They were baptized at the Easter Vigil in the midst of the community.
Back in 1956, Father Hildebrand was on the cutting edge of ecumenism and the Liturgical Movement. Understandings of baptism were changing, being expanded and transformed, returning, actually, to the understandings and practices of the early church. Father Hildebrand decided to baptize a baby during the Sunday Service, right up (here) in the chancel. And is doing so, he expanded the focus at baptism, when it was a private ceremony the focus was almost exclusively the forgiveness of original sin, now the dimensions of being incorporated into the Christian community and being given a vocation and ministry were recognized and symbolized.
Something similar happens in today’s Gospel, Luke’s account of the baptism of Jesus. John’s baptism focused on the forgiveness of sin. Remember John the Baptist was that fiery prophet who told the people to “repent,” “reform their lives,” “turn around.” He preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a common practice in the Hebrew tradition, ceremonial washings to cleanse and purify. But then Jesus enters the scene. Jesus’ baptism was not for sin, he was sinless, but rather it identifies Him as God’s Beloved Son who was empowered by the Holy Spirit and commissioned to fulfill the vocation, the ministry of Messiah.
The Holy Spirit and fire enter the scene with Jesus’ baptism and we confess that all who believe in Him are given the gifts of the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit and fire come to us at baptism, as they did to Jesus in the Jordan and to the disciples in the Upper Room at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit makes us who we are: Christians, members of the Body of Christ.
Imagine that you are standing in the Jordan River, being baptized with Jesus, masses of people surrounding you, waist deep in the water. What happens to you is both personal and communal. In one moment you are opened up to intimacy and personal union with God, while at the same instant being opened to solidarity with fellow human beings, especially the struggling and needy. You experience incorporation. You are part of the Christian community, part of the Life of God.
We also receive fire in the waters of baptism. Literally, the newly baptized is given a burning candle, lit from the Christ candle, and she is told that she has now received “The Light of Christ.” This light is to burn brightly within her, it is to shine for all the world to see. We are given our vocation, our ministry, through the fire of baptism. We make promises: to keep alive the apostles’ teaching, and fellowship and prayers; we promise to acknowledge our sins, repent, and return to the Lord; we promise to see Christ in each other and to respect the dignity of every human being; and we promise to work for justice and peace. We don’t promise just to think or talk about these things, we promise to DO them, to WORK for them. We promise to go out from here like the disciples went out from behind locked doors on Pentecost and to tell the Good News of the life and love of God in Jesus Christ. We are commissioned, ambassadors of Christ, to go out and be His hands and heart and feet and voice.
Baptism does all this, all of it. It forgives and incorporates and commissions us; it fills us will the Holy Spirit and fire to transform our world into a more just and caring and peaceful place. I am indebted to Father Hildebrand, we all are, for taking the first step, returning baptism to its rightful place in the midst of Christian community, so that each time we baptize here, we might be reminded of what it is all about and how central and important it is
Now, it is our job to take our baptism seriously, to work to build up the church, so that it is truly Christian community, and to make our world a more peaceful, just and holy place. Exercising our baptism has the power to do all these things and so much more.
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.