Today we are baptizing Brett Gonta, a young man who came to us about 6 months ago looking for a community that could support his theological questions and need for community. Lately he has been attending the evening service.
We baptize Brett into the
body of Christ. On this Easter Day, Jesus’
body is risen, powerful and offering peace.
Jesus comes in a body, not just a spirit. This expresses that our bodies are important,
and that our life is not just concerned with the spirit. Our bodies are made by God, very good, from
the dust of the earth, dependent on the plants and animals produced by the
earth, dependent upon other humans for relationship. In baptism, the spiritual and physical come
together. God gives us promises, God’s
presence, adoption into God’s family.
God promises grace and forgiveness and unity. But promises are easy to forget. We need a physical element, the water, to
make it real, to help us remember. The
sound, the smell, the taste, the sight, and the feeling of the water all help
our brains remember the promise of God.
Then whenever any of us comes into contact with water, which is often in
the Oregon rain, or whenever we wash our face or do the dishes or take a drink,
that word of promise comes back to us.
We remember our place in God’s family, in God’s heart with all five of
our senses.
Jesus comes this day with
a word of peace for all of us. We don’t
have to come in fear, when we meet God.
Jesus could have rejected the disciples since Peter denied him and they all
abandoned him. But Jesus comes with
forgiveness, love, peace, and new life.
We don’t need to fear his condemnation. Jesus even invites those same
disciples to feed his sheep, to tend to the hungry in this life and look after
them. So Brett and all of us are invited
into various ministries, depending on our gifts, to serve God in the hungry or
in any need.
Jesus invites the
disciples into new life, into the wholeness that word peace implies. That means receiving Christ and welcoming him
when he comes barging into locked rooms and unexpected places. We are invited to welcome him in whatever
form he takes—the imprisoned, the child, the Covid patient, the LGBTQIA person,
the neuro-divergent person, the asylum-seeker, the veteran, the thirsty, the
naked, the grouchy. We are invited to
build community, family with Jesus in whatever form he comes to us and to seek
justice and the well-being of creation with all these.
We’re invited to join a
journey of faith. Sometimes we’re going
to be disbelieving, sometimes terrified, sometimes joyful, sometimes
determined. All these are good with
Jesus. They represent the breadth of
human experience. Even those who saw
Jesus were disbelieving and wondering, but it isn’t held against them. It was taking time and experience for the
good news to sink in, for Jesus new life to become real for them. We don’t see him in physical form and we have
days like these. Is it too good to be
true? What does Jesus’ resurrection mean
for me and for my relationships and how I spend my time? The disciples who saw him have questions and
we have questions and we get to keep exploring them on this walk of faith.
Jesus opened the minds of
the disciples in today’s Gospel and Jesus does the same for us in our own study
and reading of the scriptures. In that walk of faith we are invited to explore
the scriptures. The scriptures informed
Jesus and his ministry. They have a lot
to say to say to us about God’s relationship with Creation from the very
beginning and our relationship with each other.
The scriptures offer history, poetry, song, prophecy, and stories of
people who made mistakes and lived in God’s grace, just like we do. These stories inspire us, caution us,
normalize our problems and shortcomings.
There is so much scripture offers on our journey of faith.
In our walk of faith,
Jesus invites us to eat. Baptism and
Holy Communion are the two sacraments for Lutherans. To be a sacrament, Jesus has to have done it
and commanded us to do it and it has to include both a promise or word from God
and something physical. For baptism that
is water. For Holy Communion that is
bread and wine or juice. Today, as the
disciples were struggling to believe and comprehend, Jesus says, “Let’s eat!” Eating is so fundamental to who we are. Let us be nourished. Let us join in community around a table. Let us enjoy ourselves. Let us tell a story about who God is and who
we are. So we are invited to this table,
God’s table, every Sunday, to eat. God
promises to be here with us. Wherever we
are in our doubt or belief, we experience the body and blood of Christ and the
forgiveness of God and we join with each other in the body of Christ. At this table Jesus feeds us, tends to our
bodily and spiritual needs and invites us to do the same for others. At this table we become one with Jesus, with
all who came before and are coming after.
We celebrate a foretaste of the great feast with Jesus when we are all
gathered at his table.
See what love the father
has given us that we should be called children of God—and that is what we are. Finally, this baptism makes us part of the
family of God. We are adopted as Jesus’
siblings. We eat at God’s table. We share stories. We work together. We challenge each other. We work out our differences. We show up for each other in the hard times
and celebrate together in the good ones.
Finally, Jesus calls us
witnesses. Sometimes Lutherans aren’t
very good witnesses. We’re uncomfortable
telling someone about our faith. Futhermore,
the word here for witness is martyr.
Even worse! However, all a
witness is is someone who tells what they experience. We’ve all been accosted at one time or
another by someone who decided for us that our faith was not good enough, who
wanted us to be a certain way or use certain language. There is something very powerful, though, in
someone being genuine, authentic, building a relationship over time out of
love, not judgment, and bearing witness with a life that is generous and
hopeful, reflective, and kind. That is
the kind of witness that makes a difference in this world, that loves and
honors other people and their experiences and still invites and welcomes.
There is so much meaning
in this font and at this table that it takes a lifetime to explore. Brett, you’ve been exploring it for some
time. May you and all of us be enveloped
in its mystery as God reveals God’s self to us and as we try to work out how to
let the love and grace experienced there flow through us to bless a weary
world.
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