How many of you remember your OWN Baptism?.
How many of you remember the Baptism of your children, of children who were special in your life like a neice or nephew, a god child, a grandchild?
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I remember the Baptisms of all three of my children … Sam’s baptism was on the banks of the Bella Coola River gathered with the Nuxalkmc People and members of the non-native side of the Pastoral Charge. With an eagle soaring overhead and a seal keeping an eye on things from the water, S-- was welcomed in to the Church, and then at loving hands of an elder of the Nuxalk people, was given his Indian Name – Noahkila. … H--’s Baptism was in the historic Augsburg Church that had been built 90 years earlier by the Norwegian Settlers to the Bella Coola Valley … and R---’s baptism was in the tiny sanctuary of Sharron United Church in Langley, with a huge gathering of extended family and friends who came to join in the service that day.
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My own Baptism I do not remember … but two yeas ago, over the Christmas break I was fortunate, or perhaps mis-fortune is the proper term, to be present in my home town of Stratford Ontario when our Congregation – my home Church – Centennial United began packing up its possessions and prepared to hand the building over to a new non-United Church congregation who had bought it from the few remaining folks who called Centennial home … That day, just after Christmas I rolled up my sleeves and helped clean up 130 plus years of history in preparation of closing the doors on a church that generations had lived, loved and laughed within. .
As I stood by a long wooden table in the basement, I found the Baptism registry and looking at it wondered … so I opened it … the first pages I found were from the 80’s … hmmm … flipping closer to the front I found the 70’s … then the 60’s … I soon found the entry for me … I stood for a long quiet moment with my finger resting on the entry … it would be the closest I could come to remembering my Baptism … I had the bare facts of where, when and who …
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It was a bitter sweet moment … I had begun the 2006 with the loss of an important Sanctuary in my life – that of Minnedosa …and as the year drew to a close, I was losing the most important Sanctuary in my life – the Church of my childhood and youth – the place where I always felt welcomed and at home … after reading the entry for my baptism I went up stairs and stood in the quiet of the sanctuary and had one last look around the magnificent space that it was … the 100 plus pipe pipe organ … the stained glass windows … the vaulting ceiling … the rich dark wood EVERYWHERE … I stood and felt the deep connectedness I had to that place, but more importantly, I felt the deep connectedness I had with the SPIRIT of that place … the memories, the moments, the people, and the ghosts that lurk in the building we had celebrated life’s passages and moments.
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In that moment, I felt enveloped by the “values” that Glen spoke of on Thursday night – those things that are held in common by the people who call a Church building HOME … values – those things that bring us here and keep us here – the ideas, feelings, emotions and grounding that we hold, and that in turn hold us together and in turn draw in other people … our values are what call us home, and in turn define what that home is and what it will be and how it will be open and welcoming to those around us …
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In my home congregation, there was an ability to fight like cat and dog, argue passionately and vehemently, and then be there for one another … ON Thursday night I shared the story with those gathered about a Board meeting where an argument began over a motion being considered … the conversation grew heated and tempers flared, and then at the end one of the elders of the congregation, a man who prided himself on simply being “a trucker” said – “so, are we still going out for coffee?”
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And everyone around the table said … “yeah …”
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The values I hold as a person and as a minister are about being in community first … being able to argue and even fight, but then take time to break bread together in community … In the case of my home congregation it was the bread of coffee and donuts, but it was a bread nonetheless …
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Such are the waters of Baptism that flow through me …I began 2006, on the morning of February 13th standing in the basement of what had been Minnedosa United Church and as I looked around me and saw the burned debris and the thick frozen sheets of ice I couldn’t help but think of the ancient refrain – “by the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept as we remembered Zion.”
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That morning, the waters around me were frozen into a solid icy mass … but the emotion of weeping as we remembered what was remained as real and as raw as the cold biting wind that howled that morning …
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Waters run throughout the history of our Church and our religious heritage. Perhaps it is because our faith roots run deep in to a dry and dusty land where water means life … Life in abundance and fullness … without water in the desert you simply die, and water means life, both literally and symbolically.
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And so in our modern Christian Churches, the symbol of water is the symbol of new life and new beginnings …
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Baptism takes the miqvah – the ritual baths and lifts it to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
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The miqvah was the ritual baths used in Jesus’ time to clean away the dirt and dust of the country from worshippers as they arrived at the temple. They would descend one set of stairs in to the pool and the waters would clean them, then they would climb out another set of stairs, put on fresh clothes and they would be ready to enter the Temple.
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The custom of the Miqvah persists in Israel today on the Holy Mountain where Muslims worship in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock. As worshippers prepare to enter the Al Asque Mosque on the temple mount, they perform a ritual bath – wudu - in the square in front of the Mosque.
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They clean their hands, feet, arms, legs and face before entering the Mosque to worship.
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In many Christian Churches the Baptism Font is located near the main entrance so that worshippers pass it on their way in and out of Church as a reminder of who they are, and what they are about …
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Our ultimate value as a Community is that of Baptism … in the waters of Baptism we are claimed and marked by God as one of God’s beloved children. Whether we are nine hours, nine days, nine months, nine years or ninety years of age – the promise of being loved by God is confirmed and celebrated in the waters of Baptism, and it is a promise that never dries up, and never runs out …
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Our Baptism vow marks us for ever … even if we have no conscious memory of the moment – in Baptism we are affirmed as a beloved child of God, and we care called and commissioned to be members of the Body of Christ that is the Church … by our Baptism we are challenged to go into the world and share our values and to share the transformative power that is the Good News of Christ.
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But do we do that?
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Or are we more prone to sit by the waters of our Baptism and weep at our recollection and memory of what once was, rather than facing the challenge of what is and what can be …
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I’ve been in that place where it would have been easier to sit and weep and recollect at what was … but like the kids movie “Meet The Robinsons” – we must keep moving forward …
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Our building burns down – we keep moving forward.
We can’t afford our building and have to close – we keep moving forward.
We get fired and rejected – we keep moving forward.
We look around us and see fewer people each year, and realize that we’re not getting any young … we … keep … moving … FORWARD.
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By the waters of Baptism – our Baptism, we affirm that we are beloved by God, and that we ALL have a place at the table … our challenge – our calling of FAITH – is to rise from the waters, and to invite others to join us.
Join us at the table.
Join us at the font.
Join us in fellowship and in community.
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Our values are important. They are what we MUST use to invite other in and make them feel welcome. Our values are the welcome – our values embody who and what we are, and our values are about living the welcome …
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The invitation begins here with out Baptism, and the rest is in the hands of God … we are the hands of God present in the world …
May it be so – thanks be to God, let us pray …
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