Our New Brother

23^rd Sunday after Pentecost & All Saints Sunday, Yr. B, November 4, 2012

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Both of our New Testament readings this morning scream of death and resurrection.  The reading from Revelation is one often read at funerals in our tradition, and the raising of Lazarus is one that surely speaks of God’s ability to bring life from death.  What do these readings have to do with the Feast of All Saints, and baptism?  Why are we reading them on a day when we are welcoming a young child into our faith community?  Why are we reading about destruction and death, and the afterlife when we should be focusing on this life?

The gospels, particularly Luke, talk about the Kingdom of God.  That kingdom, the new Jerusalem that the author of the book of Revelation is speaking about in our reading today, isn’t a kingdom in some far off heaven.  Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  It was here on earth, even those many centuries ago.  The kingdom of God is something that can be revealed in the here and now.  It’s something we are moving toward; something we are living into; something to be anticipated; something to long for with all of our heart, and mind and strength. 

The world is clearly not perfect, but in God’s dream it can become that way.  The world and humanity are in process, moving toward perfection … which really means moving toward completion.  We’re in the process of helping to reveal, and at the same time create, the world that God intends us to ultimately possess.  Along the way, there will be destruction.  There will be disappointment.  There will be dashed hopes and dreams of our own, and it’s very possible that most of us probably won’t live to see that dream fulfilled in its completeness.  But God’s vision of the kingdom on earth will always be calling us forward as a human race.  We will each have a part to play in the dream’s fulfillment, because God is in the business of making all things new.  That’s what our baptism calls out of us … engagement with the world in faith.

Baptism is a sacrament of hope.  Baptism is our Christian statement, proclaiming loudly and proudly … that death does not have the last word.  It states unequivocally, “things not only can be better, but they will get better”.   We light the paschal candle to remind us of that belief. Baptism is our pledge, to God and to one another, to be part of that world transformation, to be keepers of that vision, to be seekers in relationship with the One who calls all newness into existence.  If you don’t want to engage the world, then don’t get baptized.  Baptism isn’t about salvation in the afterlife.  It’s about living fully in this messy, complicated, confusing life on earth.  Baptism is a dangerous venture.  There’s no way of knowing where it will take you.  If you take seriously the promises you make you will have no choice but to face some sticky situations and uncomfortable conversations.  Think for a moment what we promise in baptism.

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?  The apostles were often a confused bunch of followers.  In Mark’s gospel, you would have thought they were more like a band of stooges rather than a holy brood.  Jesus was always taking them aside and explaining things that they just couldn’t understand.  We still struggle with what’s written in our scriptures.  Just ask any of the people who come to our Thursday Bible study.  It’s not easy to interpret a text that was written two thousand years ago.  You have to work at it.  But our tradition tells us that there are timeless truths to be gleaned from that study.  Read the Bible.  Know what’s in there, and wrestle with what you believe. 

And if that isn’t enough, don’t be satisfied doing that by yourself, do it in community!  You know … with other people.  Don’t just join a church, be a church!  Put your beliefs to the test with one another.  Say what you believe and see what others think about it.  Throw it out there.  You might find that you disagree with one another.  Believe it or not, God’s okay with that, but are we?  Our baptism makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.  We should try to figure out how to live together in love.  You know, respecting the dignity of every human being.  This baptism stuff isn’t for sissies.

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?  I don’t know many people who are good at resisting evil all by themselves.  That takes a group effort, because evil pervades our world, our culture and our social systems.  Evil has found its way into our lives through racism and classism, sexism and ageism, and all the other “isms” that try to separate us from one another.  Our baptism makes us brothers and sisters in Christ.  Those “isms” find life in isolation and fear.  In baptism we pledge ourselves to the task or letting in the light and revealing the evil that threatens to pit us against each other. 

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?  Proclamation takes many forms.  St. Francis of Assisi is often accredited with having said, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary use words.”  Our actions often speak louder than words, and often, our actions should perhaps come before our words.  We do a lot here at St. Stephen’s.  We offer a hot community meal two or three times a month.  We host the SWEM office that provides emergency food to many in the SW of the city.  Many of us our drivers providing monthly food assistance to about 50 seniors.  Through SWEM we support a program that gives about 50 elementary school kids supplemental food for the weekend.  On the first and third Wednesday of the month we help Foodlink distribute fresh produce and baked goods in our parking lot to more than 125 households.  We offer free Mindful Meditation sessions to the community and our building is host to many who attend 12 step meetings here.  You’re probably tired of hearing me say all that, but everything we do is a proclamation.  Those acts say something about our priorities.  That service with our neighbors says something about who we are.  But they don’t tell everything.

There comes a time when we are called by our baptism to speak a few words, to tell others … when they ask, why we do these things.  We do them because of our baptism.  We do them because we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We do them because we believe that everyone deserves to live in dignity.  We do them because justice demands it.  We do them because we are Christians. 

We’ve been handing out food with Foodlink in our parking lot for about six months now.  For the first time, the volunteers gathered together to pray before we started.  For the first time, we set up an easel and we asked for prayer requests from those who came to pick up food.  I posted the sheet on the chapel door.  Take a look at it.  Whenever I go in there, I do.  I say a prayer for those on the list.  I wonder about their lives and whether their prayers have changed.  We are a church in the neighborhood.  There is good news to share.  The world is not a hopeless place.  The power of love among brothers and sisters can change us, and the world.  It is a place of new creation, and new possibility.  Change is coming.  Our baptism makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Mary and Martha lose sight of that hope when their brother died.  They were believers, likely good Jewish women.  They trusted in the power of God that worked through Jesus.   They believed that if Jesus had been there, their brother could have been saved.  Jesus was a known healer.  But he hadn’t come quickly enough, and Lazarus was dead and bound.  The sisters had no idea what God could work through Jesus.  They had no idea that through him, God could bring life from death, or turn their despair into joy. 

I don’t expect God to bring those I’ve lost and loved back to life.  But I do expect God to continue to work wonders in the world through creation.  I do expect God to work wonders through each person who comes to be baptized.  I do expect God to be present with us in any situation, calling sometimes into unlikely moments of death and resurrection.  Baptism is a resurrection experience. It’s a second birth, a reorienting of one life toward God.  One life that has the possibility of changing not only the world, but each one of us gathered here. 

So today, we will welcome Devon.  On this your baptism day, we look forward in hope with you … hoping your face will be one that we see frequently … one that will grace our worship and our study and our fellowship, one that will one day work for justice with us … and transform our world.  For now, you become our brother through baptism.  Welcome!

Amen.