Gracious and loving God, we thank you for
the gift of Baptism as the sign and seal of our new life in Jesus ✠ in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God says “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” I do have more to say and I hope that the Spirit guides my speaking and your listening, but really, if that’s all you get today, that will be a gracious plenty. God says to each of us and to all of us: “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
Each
year, on first Sunday after the Epiphany, we remember the Baptism of our Lord,
which we heard about in the reading from Luke. Baptism, along with Eucharist
are the two most central Sacraments of the Church; they give us our identity,
our mission, and they bring us into the life and love of God as nothing else
can. I’ve preached a lot through the years on the Eucharist, and while I often
refer to Baptism, I’m not sure that I’ve ever preached on Baptism in a
sustained way. So for these Sundays after Epiphany, until we get to Ash
Wednesday, I’ll be focusing on Baptism in the sermons: what Baptism is, means,
and does.
For
today, the main point that I’ll make about Baptism is that it is the sign and
the seal of God’s presence with us. We heard in Isaiah the promise that “I will
be with you.” If you look up the textbook definition of a sacrament, you’ll
find that it is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.”
In other words, God’s grace and love aren’t things you can measure with a scale
or ruler. We need something to make this grace tangible and experiential, and
God knows this about us – and so out of great concern and love for us, God has
given Baptism to the Church. Baptism is the sign of this love.
It’s
similar to a wedding – the couple who comes down the aisle is usually in love
with one another before they exchange vows and they are already committed to
one another. What happens in a wedding is the naming of this reality, which
then allows for further growth and flourishing in that grace and love. Just as
a wedding names the new reality of the relationship that comes in marriage,
Baptism names the life of grace that we have been given as God’s children.
And
so Baptism does actually do something, just as a wedding actually does change
something for a couple. Those of you who are married know that there is
something different in your relationship between the rehearsal dinner and the
reception dinner. It is the same for ordination. It is the same in Confession –
something changes in hearing those words of absolution and forgiveness
proclaimed. And so Baptism is not inconsequential; we are sacramentally
transformed by those water in the same way that two people walk down the aisle
single and then walk down it again as married people. Like a couple, you might
not necessarily be able to look at two people and tell that they are married;
you won’t find evidence for it under a microscope, but we all know something
has changed. Their priorities are different. Their commitments are different.
Their purpose is different. They are forever changed as the two become one
flesh. And something no less powerful or gracious happens in Baptism.
As
to what that change is, it is best described in a passage from Romans 6: “Do
you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into
death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, so we too might walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united
with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a
resurrection like his.” What Baptism does is to sacramentally show us that we
are dead to sin and that we are captive to no one. We are not the worst thing
we have ever done. We are not our mistakes. We are not our should-haves.
Baptism is the sign of being dead to Sin.
And
just as we are united to Christ’s death, we are joined to his Resurrection.
Meaning we live in this world not in fear of death, not without hope, not with
uncertainty about the future. We are a witness, a testimony, to the fact that
God can redeem all things, ourselves included. One the great prayers of our
Prayer Book includes the line that, through the Church, “the whole might world
see and know that things which were being cast down are being raised up, and
things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being
brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, Jesus
Christ our Lord.” God is doing amazing, gracious, and wonderful things, and in
Baptism, we are joined to that power working in this world that cannot be stopped
even by death.
I
also do want to make it clear that though this sacramental grace comes through
baptism, it does not come from baptism. What makes a sacrament a sacrament is God’s
grace, not our actions and gestures. There is nothing magical about Baptism. The
words that we say when we gather around the font are not incantations. The
Sacraments are sure and certain vehicles of God’s grace, but God’s grace will
be found wherever God wants. All this is to say that no one is given salvation
by being baptized; only God grants salvation. Yes, those who are baptized are certainly
saved through Baptism, but it doesn’t mean that God can’t and won’t shine his
grace beyond the limits of our Sacraments. That’s what makes grace grace, it
doesn’t depend on human action. The Sacraments are the gift God has given to the
world through the Church to be the clear expressions of this love, but let us
never exchange our humility for arrogance when it comes to declaring who God
chooses to save.
And
if we pay attention to this passage from Isaiah, we see the text making this very
point. In these seven verses, there are at least that many instances of the
word “I.” God is clearly the subject and we are the objects being acted up in being
formed, created, redeemed, chosen, and loved. To be clear, anytime a person is
brought to the waters of Baptism, it is a time to celebrate and rejoice,
whether that person is 3 months old or 90 years old, it’s always the right time
for Baptism. In our tradition, we usually baptize babies, and that’s spot on
with the understanding of grace. A baby cannot confess a creed, a baby cannot get
itself to church; a baby is helpless, needy, and dependent, and we are only
fooling ourselves if we think that we ever outgrow that. Isaiah reminds us that
it is God who created us, it is God who formed us, it is God who keeps the
waters from overwhelming us and the flames from consuming us. Baptizing babies
is so meet and right to do because it reminds us that we are all the beloved
children of God who are utterly dependent on God to be with us.
Isaiah
describes several things that God’s presence with us means. The first is that
God created us. And God doesn’t make mistakes. Whatever people tell you,
whatever you might think about yourself – you were wonderfully created by the
very same God who created the Blue Ridge mountains, and the sunset on High Rock
Lake, and the beauty of the starry night. You are just as beautiful, just as
amazing as anything in all Creation. And God made us not in the ways that
humans make a child, but in an even more intimate and splendid way. We are made
in God’s own image, and so God is always with us because we are images and
icons of God.
Another
way that God is with us is that God calls us by name – both as individuals and
as a community. Yes, God is very big and we are very small, but we are never
forgotten, never ignored, never lost; rather, we are always known and loved by
God. When we are caught up in the chaos of waters that are up to our neck or surrounded
by flames, God is with us. This is the very same God who spoke Creation into being,
who split apart the sea and led the people of our bondage in Egypt into
freedom, who was with David when he slew Goliath, who answered Hannah’s prayer
for a child, who tells us that he would give up Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba for
us. In Isaiah’s time, Israel was a small and unremarkable people and those
other nations were the superpowers. God says “I don’t care how big or strong or
wealthy or popular they are – I love you. This is the same God who gave Mary
the faith to say “Let it be with me according to your word,” who called St. Paul
to repentance and made him an apostle, who gave strength and courage to the martyrs
for our faith. The same God who was born as one of us, who died out of love for the
world on the Cross, and who rose victorious on the third day. That’s who you’ve
got in your corner and Baptism is the sign and the seal of that promise that
God is always with us. And this God says that we are precious in his sight, and
honored, and loves us. You want to know why I so deeply trust that all shall be
well? That’s why. Because if God loves us, then it’s all going to be okay.
And
this truth is something that Elizabeth Duncan Koontz knew and treasured in her
heart. Libby, as she was known, was a member of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
here in Salisbury. That’s the church depicted in the upper left corner of this
icon which we will dedicate this morning. Established in 1916, St. Philip’s was
an African-American parish in this Diocese in a time when segregation along
racial lines was the norm not only in practice but also in structure. By all
accounts, it was a place of vibrant ministry and wonderful memories, but was
not given the resources that St. Luke’s and others were. So in 1970, St. Philip’s
was closed and merged into St. Luke’s and Libby became a member here. While I
lament that St. Philip’s did not continue to thrive, this parish has forever
been changed for the better by having members of St. Philip’s as a part of our
beloved community over the last 50 years.
Libby,
who was born in 1919 and died on January 6, 1989, did many wonderful things –
serving as the President of the National Educator’s Association, as the
Director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau, as a leader in the civil
rights and women’s right movements. In talking with her goddaughter, Dora Wood,
and her close friend, DeeDee Wright, more than those sort of accomplishments that
get listed in an obituary, she was also a great friend and mentor. And those
who had the honor of knowing Libby know that it was her faith that God was with
her and that she was a beloved child of God that made all of this possible. And
not only did she know this about herself, but she believed it about everyone
else. In every child, she knew that God was with them and that gave them an
innate dignity and worth, even if the world wasn’t giving it to them. Hers is
such a great legacy and I am so incredibly pleased that hers is the first icon
that will be put in the nave of this, her home church.
This
icon, you’ll recall, isn’t sponsored by an individual donor, but the entire congregation.
And so I invite and encourage you to contribute, if you haven’t yet, to this
project as we ensure that this great witness to God’s grace and beloved
community is a part of the fabric of this parish for future generations. And as
you contribute, make that gift in thanksgiving for the ways in which God is
with you in your life, in thanksgiving for your Baptism, in response to the
great love that God has shown us in Jesus Christ. Whatever you are facing
today, hear these words of God spoken directly to you: You are precious in my
sight, and honored, and I love you.
