In the name of the God who makes the common holy and the holy common. Amen.
“When Jesus had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.” Doves are beautiful creatures, aren’t they? Pristine white, graceful, peaceful, calm. Nothing like those nasty pigeons. We all know that pigeons are dirty, stupid, and they leave droppings everywhere, not to mention that there are too many of them. It’s no wonder that pigeons are often called “sky rats.” But doves, what a wonderful way to think about the Holy Spirit.
Maybe you already know this, but there’s a problem with the distinction that I’ve just drawn between doves and pigeons, namely that doves actually are pigeons. There’s no difference between a dove and a pigeon except the name that we’ve given them. A dove is simply a white pigeon. And sometimes what we think of as a pigeon is actually called a “rock dove.” This classification of birds are called “columbidae,” which is where we get our term for the place where we inter the remains of our loved ones – a columbarium. Originally, a columbarium, which means “pigeon house,” was a place where pigeons lived.
In our minds, doves and pigeons are wildly different birds. Doves are positive and pigeons are worthless. Can you imagine someone saying that they want to have a flock of pigeons released at their wedding? But I can’t but help wonder how thinking of the Holy Spirit as a pigeon, instead of a dove, might not just be odd and funny, but actually helpful. Just as we think that pigeons are plentiful, what if we thought of the Holy Spirit not as being as rare as a dove, but as common as a pigeon? What if we didn’t think of Holy Spirit as something that remained white and clean from being above the fray, but something that is right there in the messiness of our lives? Just as pigeons are notorious for leaving a trail behind them, what if we trusted that the Holy Spirit was leaving the residue of God’s grace all around us? So maybe the next time we sing a hymn about the Holy Spirit, we might sing “Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly pigeon.”
The reason why I wanted to mention this false difference between pigeons and doves is that we can fall into the same trap when it comes to thinking about Baptism. As we tend to associate the dove with Baptism, we tend to think about Baptism as a sweet baby-blessing sort of ceremony. We probably think about our Baptism as often as we see a dove and it conjures up peaceful images. And there’s nothing wrong with peace; I’m all for it. But Baptism might be better imagined as a pigeon. Baptism should get all over your life. Just as there are pigeons everywhere, your Baptism is about all parts of your life.
Just as there are two ways to understand the same type of bird, there are different ways of understanding Baptism. The word “baptism” simply means “to dip or immerse.” There are a lot of things that we can immerse ourselves in. Some people really like college football, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that they are immersed in it. Others are immersed in country music, or politics, or painting. And these things that we are immersed in become a way of life. Think about fitness – now, I don’t think I’m a fanatic, maybe you think I am – but I wake up at 5am five days a week to go to the gym and I track every single calorie that I consume. It’s certainly a lifestyle that I’ve immersed myself in. I’ve changed my habits, my sleep schedule, my dietary choices.
This is the sort of immersion that Baptism is about. Not a pristine dove, but a pigeon that you run into everywhere and covers all parts of your life. Baptism is about immersing all of you into the loving grace of God. Baptism should get all over your schedule, your bank account, your parenting habits, how you vote, how you treat other people. Just as some of our hobbies and ways of life define who we are, Baptism is all about who you are.
Certainly, there are many ways to understand Baptism. At the core of Baptism, though, is a declaration. We heard in this morning’s Psalm about God’s voice: it is a powerful voice, full of splendor. It can break trees and makes the land to skip like livestock. The voice of the Lord not only created the world, but also shakes its foundations. And what this voice declares at the Baptism of Jesus is “You are my beloved and I delight in you.” This is what God says through the prophet Isaiah, “I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.” In Isaiah’s context, this meant that God is passing over the most powerful and richest nations and choosing Israel, not because Israel is better or stronger than those nations, it wasn’t; but because God has chosen Israel. It’s all about God’s grace. Israel has not earned God’s election, rather God has graciously chosen Israel. And God does this “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
Maybe you’ve been zoning of this sermon. Maybe you’ve been zoning out of your faith for a while now. But hear this: the source and end of all things, the voice that created the world has something to say to you – “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” This is the at the heart of Baptism - the declaration of God’s love for you. You are precious not because you add value to the economy, but because God loves you. You are honored not because of your accomplishments or degrees that you’ve earned, but because God loves you. God has declared that you are precious, and honored, and loved. And so it is.
And as we see in our reading from Acts, there are no limits or qualifications to this love. We heard that the Samaritans had accepted the word of God and were Baptized. You’ll remember that Samaritans and Jews were not known for having a strong relationship. In fact, these groups looked down on each other, saw each other as blasphemers, and thought each other was flat out wrong about certain components of the faith. And yet, the Samaritans were Baptized, welcomed into God’s abundant love for them, and they received the Holy Spirit. That pigeon is everywhere, showing up even among the Samaritans. So don’t be surprised to find out that the Holy Spirit is moving in the lives of the people that you can’t stand. But also don’t be surprised to find out if you feel rejected, as the Samaritans did, that God’s love still applies to you. No matter who you are or what is in your past, the Holy Spirit will still fill you and lead you into holiness. One theologian has said that salvation is nothing more than “accepting the fact that you have been accepted.” The Samaritans who were Baptized did this – they embraced that accepting and transforming love of God.
This is where thinking of the Holy Spirit as a pigeon is really helpful. As dismissive of pigeons as we so often are, pigeons are known for their ability to return to their homes even over extremely long distances. We call them homing pigeons because of this ability to always find their way home. The love of God is your home. It is the place where you can feel safe, where you can be yourself, where you can find peace. As a homing pigeon, the Holy Spirit is the gift of God to us which reminds us that we have a home in the heart of God.
At its best, the Church is a community where this love is at our core. Having this be a place where people can feel at home, where people can find peace, where people can know and experience the love of God is why we exist. And it is my sincere prayer that you find St. Luke’s to be a beloved community.
People soon figured out that this homing instinct of pigeons could be useful. Long before the days of secure networks and satellite communications, there were messenger pigeons. These were simply pigeons that carried a message with them. As the Holy Spirit moves through your life and through St. Luke’s, it is as a messenger pigeon, carrying that message of God’s grace to all those who need to hear it.
Luke notes that Jesus was praying at his Baptism. Throughout Luke, prayer is a central theme and Luke uses prayer to show that Jesus has a strong and vibrant connection to God. One of the things that our Baptism does is to unite us to Jesus – his Death, his Resurrection, and his belovedness. Just as Jesus is connected to God, we are connected to Jesus and thereby to God’s love. Because of God’s gracious favor towards us, all the things that are true about Jesus are true about us because we have been united to him in Baptism. The Holy Spirit carries this message of grace as a messenger pigeon, that through our Baptisms, we are forever and always united to God and to all those whom God loves. And through your own prayer life, through God’s Spirit which dwells within your own spirit, you can be connected to this love.
Now, you might be wondering about other ways to view Baptism – isn’t it also about our commissioning for ministry, isn’t it about us growing in holiness of life, isn’t it also about washing away sin? Of course, it is all of those things. This love of God which is declared in Baptism not only claims us as God’s beloved, but it also makes a claim on us. This love is to be evident throughout our lives; faith is to bear the fruits of holiness. But we talk about those things another time, because at the core of Baptism is God’s love for you. If we don’t hear that message of God choosing us in love, then all of those other things won’t be understood properly.
So today, I just want you to hear that you are precious in God’s sight, you are honored in God’s grace, and you are always deeply loved by God. And if you need to be reminded of that, we have the gift of God’s own self, the Holy Spirit, who, like a pigeon, carries us home towards this love and brings the message of God’s grace to our lives. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly pigeon. Amen.
