Proper 26 C, November 4, 2007

by the Reverend J. Peter Swarr

It was 2:00 am and my beeper went off. I was serving as a chaplain at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC and I was on call. I looked at the screen on my beeper and saw that it was neo-natal intensive care unit calling. They needed me to come to the NIC-U immediately for a baptism. An extremely premature baby was about to die and the family wanted her to be baptized. The nurse then added that, by the way, the family only spoke Spanish. My brain, which was still waking up from two hours of sleep, was reeling…I’d never baptized anyone before, let alone in Spanish, and I wasn’t even ordained yet. I had no idea what I was doing. I ran to my locker, picked up my Spanish Prayer Book, the libro de oración común and walked down the hallway feeling inadequate, incapable, and unprepared for what lay ahead. I prayed as I walked through the deserted hallways, I prayed for the family that was about to loose their daughter, I prayed for the staff which was working with the family, I prayed for a sense of peace and centeredness in the midst of this chaotic and broken situation. Maria weighed less than a pound and easily fit into the palm of my hand. As I held her miniature body and felt it growing cooler by the second I felt my heart breaking. As I poured water over her head in the name of el Padre, el Hijo, y el Espíritu Santo I felt a deep sadness and a deep joy mingle in my tears. I saw that same sadness and joy in the faces of her parents as they watched their daughter be baptized. Somehow, in the midst of our helplessness, somehow in the midst of this terrible situation God was with us. God was holding us up, God was bringing new life to Maria even in the face of her fast-approaching death. Somehow God was offering us peace, and strength even in the midst of our brokenness. And we said prayers, and we held hands, and we gave thanks to God for the life of one of God’s beloved children. And new life was being born even in the midst of death.

Human helplessness and the power of God in those situations is a key theme that is woven throughout our Scriptures and our Baptismal liturgy today. The Book of Daniel paints an apocalyptic picture of warfare between four great and terrible beasts and the Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God which formed creation and parted the Red Sea. This warfare demonstrates the human desire which is constantly present to dominate and attempt to control life. For Daniel this human desire for power was played out by foreign kings who oppressed and killed the people of God. Daniel’s vision of beasts rising out of an ocean of chaos was a picture of the reality of the world, where all the powers of the world rail against the good and gracious law of God. And yet, even in the midst of this stark and terrible vision, Daniel saw the powerful presence of God reaching out to his people. Daniel knew that God was present and that God would act so as to tame the power of death and bring life and hope to God’s helpless people. Daniel saw a vision of hope where God came to the powerless and gave them life, just as God meets us in the waters of Baptism and saves us from the power of death.

As people who live in the midst of an affluent and generally peaceful community, as people protected by the military might of the world’s greatest super-power, most of us cannot quickly connect with Daniel’s terrible and dark vision of foes who over-run and destroy us like wild beasts. Such hopelessness has not tended to be a feeling that many American’s posses. But if we stop and reflect on our life for just a moment we too will realize that Daniel’s vision is NOT all that far removed from our reality. Think for a moment of the seemingly randomness of cancer and the damage that it causes. Think of 9/11, the wildfires in California, the fury of hurricane Katrina or the drought that is wreaking havoc in the Southeast. All of these events remind us that as human beings, we are vulnerable, and in the face of many disasters and enemies, we are powerless, helpless, and ultimately dependant, whether we want to admit it or not, on God. In the face of the reality of life we realize that we are not all that far removed from the powerless infants who will be brought to the baptismal font at 11 am today.

In the Lukan beatitudes Jesus paints a picture which often leaves Western Christians feeling helpless and confused. Jesus calls his disciples, those who seek to follow him, to a radical form of life that looks utterly unlike our world. Jesus describes the kingdom of God, a world that is upside down from our present reality. A world in which the poor, the hungry, the mourning, and the hated inherit God’s kingdom and the rich, the full, the laughing, and the respected inherit nothing but woe. Jesus calls his followers, he calls you and me, to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who abuse us. Jesus calls us to a form of life which, as beautiful as it is, seems like something we can never reach let alone fully understand. In the face of Jesus’ call all too often we become immobilized, helpless in the face of the powers of sin and death which seem to force us to live lives which are contrary to Christ’s kingdom vision.

No saint who has ever lived has fully realized Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom as stated in these beatitudes. And yet all of God’s saints, living and departed, well-known and unknown, have continued to strive for this Kingdom of God. In the face of their inability to fully live into these beatitudes the saints have looked to God for help, and God’s power has not disappointed them.

The realization that we need God’s help to truly live stands at the center of the Christian life and it stands at the center of Baptism. In the beatitudes this reality is laid bare through Luke’s constant focus on the materially poor. The poor know their need for God. They know their need for support from others. Thus the poor are blessed not because their lives are easy—they are not. But because like Daniel, like an infant at the Baptismal font, in the midst of their undeniable powerlessness and need God is present to them. Through their undeniable weakness God’s power is made evident.

As Christians Christ calls us to a life of dependence on God. In our life of faith initiated at baptism we are called to love and serve all, we are called to study the scriptures and remain faithful in the prayers. In this baptismal life we experience time and again our absolute need for God’s grace and God’s support. Through Baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus we are empowered with the ability to face the challenges of this life. In baptism we are confronted with our need for help. We come to the Baptismal waters as weak infants, seeking life, seeking God. Without fail God meets us in these waters. Without fail God reaches out to his beloved children and gives us new life, life which enables us to strive for the kingdom of God just like all the saints who have gone before.

Baptism reminds us that, just like Clare and Brendan who are to be baptized today, we are powerless. Baptism reminds us that, just like Maria received life even as she died on that early morning in DC, God brings new life in the face of death. The life that we are called to live, a life of service, of love, of Christ-like living is a life that none of us can live on our own. Ultimately we are powerless against the sin and brokenness of our age. We need God; we need the Spirit which defeats Daniel’s beasts. We need fellow disciples to pick us up and support us on our way even when we fail to live into the kingdom values of Jesus’ words in Luke.

Through God’s presence, through the Spirit given to us in baptism, a new creation is being born into our broken world. This creation began on the first day when the Spirit of God hovered over the deep, this creation was reborn when Christ lived among us and loved us. This creation continues to emerge through the presence of God within us through our work and ministry here at St. John’s, within the Diocese, the Episcopal church and the world wide Anglican Communion. Through God’s presence and power we find that we are enabled to live as Christ’s body in the world. Through this presence of the Risen One within us the words of Ephesians become our own words. In Christ we have obtained an eternal inheritance. We have become God’s own people to God’s praise and glory. Through our coming to this baptismal font, through our acknowledging our need for God, we are empowered and given a spirit of wisdom which leads us ever further into the deep and rich life of the saints of God. On this day may we rejoice with all the saints, may we sing to the Lord a new song for the creation continues to be made new. Through the baptismal waters the Spirit continues to move upon the earth and God continues to be with all those who look to him in hope.