This morning we have both a Baptism and our annual Vestry meeting. Usually, I would not schedule those two together, but it has unavoidably happened. However, the more I think about it, the happier I am that the two have come together this morning. On the simplest level, Zya’s Baptism is a reminder of all our Baptisms and the baptismal ministry of this parish which we address in our annual Vestry.
Baptism is also a covenant, a mutual promise, in which the person to be baptized (or, in this case, her godparents and sponsor) promise faithfulness to God for the person newly baptized into the body of Christ. In our Sunday Lenten readings from Hebrew Scripture, we have been hearing about God’s covenants with Israel: last week we heard of God’s covenant with Noah, the most basic and foundational covenant between God and all of creation. Today we hear of God’s covenant with Abraham, making his heirs the chosen people of God, Israel, through his son Isaac. I am sure we shall go on to hear of God’s covenant with Moses and the gift of the Law.
From Hebrew Scripture we move on to the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, of which Baptism is a sign and symbol: God’s gift of his Son, his atoning death on the Cross, and his Resurrection. As St. Paul says so often, we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ; we are “in Christ” (en Xristo, in the Greek) and Christ is in us. Zya will be baptized into the Body of Christ, in recognition that she belongs to Christ, is loved by Christ, and in her own way, will be Christ in and to the world. Christ is both death and resurrection. Life-giving water will be poured over her and she will be anointed with the sign of the Cross. She will be Christ’s own, for ever.
Today’s New Testament lesson from Mark speaks of taking up the Cross: that in losing our lives we win them. That Cross may be difficult responsibilities that we take on; it may be illness or old age, whether of others or ourselves. That Cross may be difficult experiences and memories of the past; it may be poverty or disability. That Cross may be separation from loved ones or living with someone we cannot be separated from. But out of all these human experiences of Jesus’s Cross, we are called to Christ’s Resurrection. Lent, the season of the Cross, is not permanent; it culminates in Easter: Christ’s Resurrection and ours.
The sign of the Cross in Baptism is not a curse, like the mark of Cain. It is a sign of encouragement, like the water of Baptism; it is a sign of God’s protection, a sign of loving self-service. All the signs and symbols of Baptism – water, the sign of the cross, consecrated oil, the gift of a lighted candle, indeed, the Peace (greeting the newly baptized and one another) – speak of encouragement and new life: the affirmation of and strength to live Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection in the world. Some Baptismal services in the early church added milk and honey: perhaps we reserve that for the Baptismal cake that we shall enjoy following this service, a small baptismal agape meal. Today, we launch Zya on her baptismal ministry.
This morning we also come together for our annual Vestry. Reports have been written, distributed and read. We reflect on our baptismal ministry as a parish and our individual roles in it. We reflect on our resources, both human and material. We reflect on our historic building, whose roof always seems to leak and whose forbidding Gothic exterior, caked with decades of soot from Hamilton’s “dark satanic mills” sometimes frightens those who might like to come worship here. We make some important decisions for our next year of baptismal ministry. St. Paul speaks of Baptism as not washing away dirt but giving us confidence; and we pray that that confidence pervades our Vestry and our year ahead. And, still as friends, I hope, we shall all join in a fellowship meal, our community lunch for this month.
However, one concluding part of Zya’s Baptism is incomplete, her first communion. Ecumenical thinking on Christian initiation (including Anglican thinking on the subject) has moved away from what is sometimes called the old “three-step initiation” (Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion) to the early Christian view that Baptism with water, in the name of the Trinity, in and of itself, is full initiation into the Body of Christ, the Church. Thus, if we had a Holy Communion this morning, Zya would make her first communion. I know she is ready for that. More than once, I have noticed that she has not been so satisfied with receiving only a blessing at the time of Communion.
Likewise, next Sunday, or perhaps Wednesday, we shall come again around the altar as a parish for the Holy Communion or Eucharist, the sacramental continuation of Baptism. In the Eucharist, we hear Scripture read and reflected upon; we offer our prayers and intercessions; we confess and receive absolution. We greet one another in the Peace of Christ. Then we solemnly re-present (not repeat, not just remember, either), the central core of the Baptismal Ministry: Christ’s death on the Cross and his Resurrection, in a meal of bread and wine commended to us in Jesus’ own words: “This is my body, this is my blood”. And we are sent out to exercise our baptismal ministry in the world.
Finally, just a reminder that we are not just witnesses to Zya’s Baptism or, indeed, to each others’ Baptisms. We are participants in her Baptism and each others’ Baptisms and baptismal ministry. We will join in the reaffirmation of our Baptismal promises, including one not the Book of Alternative services because it is new, the promise to look after creation, a fitting addition of God’s covenant with Noah into the baptismal promises. We shall all promise to support and care for Zya, and we shall welcome her into the church. We pray that that God’s welcoming and loving Holy Spirit may pervade our Vestry and our parish life. With Zya, let us not just remember our Baptisms, but also live them.
Let us pray.
God of mercy, God of grace,
Show the brightness of your face;
Shine upon us, Saviour shine,
Fill your church with light divine;
And your saving health extend
Unto earth’s remotest end.
Thanks be to God!
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