|
 January
10, 2010
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
1st Epiphany
the Rev. Elizabeth Molitors
"You
are my Son, the Beloved; with you I
am well pleased." -- Luke
3:22b
Two pieces from the news happened across
my desk this week that at first seemed
in sharp contrast to one another.
The first item was a commentary published
in the Chicago Sun-Times entitled, “Secrets
of a Closet Christian.” The author,
Ada Calhoun, talks about her difficulty
in “outing” herself as a Christian amongst
her hip, sophisticated, liberal New
York City friends. She confesses to
avoiding people she recognizes, as she
walks to church, in order to avoid embarrassment
and judgment. She wonders, as she puts
it, “Why am I so paranoid? I'm not cheating
on my husband or committing crimes.
Those are battles my cosmopolitan, progressive
friends would understand. Many had to
come out -- as gay, as alcoholics, as
artists in places where art wasn't valued.
To them, my situation is far more sinister:
I am the bane of their youth, the boogeyman
of their politics, the very thing they
left their small towns to escape. I
am a Christian.” 1
The other news item that came to my
attention was an interview on BBC radio,
with Canon Andrew White, the vicar of
St. George’s, the Anglican Church in
Iraq. The interview was from a few months
ago, but a clergy friend had just sent
me the link after we got into a conversation
about baptism. In the piece, interviewer
Owen Bennett-Jones asks Canon White
about converts to Christianity at his
church. White states flatly that he
doesn’t encourage non-Christians to
convert because “they’re usually killed.”
He goes on to say, “The last people
I baptized this year, in January [2009],
have all been killed…When I baptize
anybody, I say, you realize that you
could be killed? And they say yes, I
still want to follow Jesus. Then I’ll
baptize them secretly.” 2
Although I am not in the same situation
as Ms. Calhoun in New York City – I’m
fortunate enough to live in an area
where being a church-going Christian
is pretty much mainstream – any discomfort
or dis-ease I’ve felt in my life because
of my choice to live as a person of
faith is much closer to her experience
than it is to the experience of those
in Andrew White’s church who knowingly
risk their lives in order to be baptized.
Being a Christian in New York City or
Glen Ellyn vs. being a Christian in
Iraq – could these circumstances be
further apart?
But the more I thought about these two
stories, the more I saw what they shared
in common, and how they point to an
issue beyond that of Christian persecution
or being Christian in a post-Christian
society. The bigger issue is how those
who fall outside the boundaries of the
dominant culture – whether because of
religion or gender, sexual orientation
or race or socioeconomic status – how
those people are treated by the dominant
culture.
That’s the theme of the gospels, including
our gospel today, which tells the story
of the baptism of Jesus, and marks the
beginning of Jesus’ public ministry,
the beginning of His tireless crusade
to align Himself with those who exist
at the margins: the poor and the voiceless,
the widows and orphans, the hungry and
the mentally ill. Jesus doesn’t much
care about who falls into which theological
or geographic or racial camp; what he
is interested in is how those with power,
those with resources, those on the ‘inside’
treat those on the outside.
So, what is it that happens to Jesus
on the shores of the Jordan? Why does
Jesus get baptized? How we answer that
question shapes how it is we see our
own baptism and, later this morning,
the baptism of David Bass.
Was Jesus imbued with some special power
when the dove descended upon Him? Did
the voice from heaven give Him an authority
that He’d been lacking? No; none of
that. Jesus’ baptism was a pure expression
of sacrament, according to the definition
many of us learned in our catechism:
it was an outward and visible sign of
an inward and spiritual grace. His baptism
took what was already true inwardly
– that He was God-made-man – and gave
it expression in a way that was discernible
to all: the voice, the dove, and later,
the works of His ministry. Because Jesus
was who He was, the outward manifestation
of His life was perfectly consistent
with who He was inside. And though,
in our flawed humanity, we cannot hope
to achieve the same perfect consistency
on our own, nevertheless, that is the
way we are called to live.
Baptism doesn’t change the way God sees
us; it changes how we see ourselves.
As we baptize David this morning, we
will be publicly proclaiming and committing
to believe what God already knows to
be true - that David is made in God’s
image, is one of God’s beloved children,
and in whom God is well pleased. As
David’s godparents recite the baptismal
vows on David’s behalf, and as we renew
our own baptismal vows, we are promising
– with God’s help – to make our outer
lives reflect that inner image of God,
doing our best to show forth the goodness
already resident in each of us, put
there by our Creator.
Living out these promises isn’t easy,
and it can’t be done alone. That’s why
we gather as a community for a baptism,
to pledge our support to the newly baptized,
and to renew our pledge to one another,
to help each other live in the way that
Jesus lived. Lots of things stand in
our way. For members of Andrew White’s
congregation, the challenge to living
out a Christian witness is persecution
and death. For Ada Calhoun, it’s the
challenge to overcome her own fearfulness
and stand up to those who consider Christians
ridiculous and irrelevant. And we all
face the challenges that are resident
in any human life, no matter where or
when we live – self-interest, apathy,
fear, greed, putting our own needs ahead
of the needs of others, especially those
on the margins.
Being a Christian can be hard and uncomfortable,
and sometimes even life-threatening
– yes. But we have everything we need:
we are God’s beloved daughters and sons,
in whom God is well pleased. May we
continue to grow in that belief.
Amen.
________________________
1. http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1969523,CST-EDT-open03b.article
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/04/090420_theinterview_110409.shtml
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