Living sacrifices

A Sermon preached on 27th August 2017, Pentecost XII at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 51:1-6, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:13-20

This is one of the Sundays when I have the feeling that at least one of the readings, in this case the extract from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, was written just for us and just for this day. I know you heard nothing about a picnic, though if I had not left out the OT reading from Isaiah you would have heard a reference to a “garden of the Lord” where “joy and gladness will be found, … thanksgiving and the voice of song.” And I think that is a good description of our service. You all look pretty happy to me.

The references I am thinking of are to Baptism, and today with Shanaya we have our third Baptism in a row, as well as to the ministries of this church and to stewardship. And they are all connected. Baptism first:

Paul writes “I appeal to you therefore, … to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.” This is a good summary of what Baptism is all about. Like all candidates, Shanaya is being presented as a living sacrifice, not to die – except to sin – but to come alive, to begin a new life in Christ, to begin a transformation and renewal that will last her whole life. As baptized Christians, we have all promised to give our whole lives to God: 24/7. Our worship is not restricted to an hour or so on Sunday, our lives are our worship and our offering to God. Surely God deserves something better, you might think. No. You are just what God wants. That does not mean that you should not change and grow – but that change and transformation into what God wills for us, what is good and acceptable and perfect, has already been factored how our Creator sees us.

Baptism is not just an individual experience, Shanaya is being baptized into a community, into the church, into the one body in Christ. We promise to support her in her life in Christ and she will enhance and enrich the body. As a member of that body she, like all of us, will have a gift, at least one, to be used for the common good. It’s a bit too early to tell what that might be. That is part of a process of discernment that will last all her life. 

The list of gifts and roles that Paul gives in this letter is not complete or exclusive. There is another list in Paul’s 1^st Letter to the Corinthians (12). That one includes gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, speaking in and the interpretation of tongues. The list we just heard from Romans on the other hand is a bit more practical, a bit closer to the ministries we offer here. Though I am not denying that miracles play a big role in everything we do in this church too.

At this time of year, many churches have homecoming Sundays: welcoming everyone back from vacation, welcoming newcomers, and inviting everyone to participate in one or more of the ministries of the church. They will often produce a leaflet or have a ministry fair. We do not need to, as Paul has done it for us.  He has listed almost everything we need in a church community:  

We need preachers, able to proclaim what our faith means not just intellectually, but in our lives. That is what Paul means here by prophecy in proportion to faith, and this role is by no means restricted to me and to Douglas. We have lots of inspired lay preachers in this congregation.

We need people who serve, who reach out to people in need. The word translated as ministry is diakonia, or service. We have lots of people like this in our congregation, who support both our official ministries to the homeless, to refugees, to those in long-term care, our missions, or also their own private projects.

We need people who teach. This can be a regular activity like teaching Sunday school or working with our youth, or a one-off or occasional activity like leading an adult formation on a – spiritual – topic close to your heart.   

We need people who encourage others – the exhorters. This group includes our vestry and officers. They encourage not just by word, but by example.  

We need givers. Ideally everyone in our congregation should give to the church in accordance with their financial abilities, enabling all the other ministries, and putting us in a position to help others financially where that is needed.

We need leaders, administrators, all those who work diligently, often behind the scenes, in the office, setting up for worship, producing bulletins and publicity, making food …. And much more.

We need compassionate helpers. Those who identify needs within the community, who spot a sad face or a tear, who visit the sick and comfort the mourning, who give practical support. Often a kind word or gesture is enough.

If there is one thing missing in Paul’s list that applies particularly to our church it would be music: which is not only a key element of our worship, but also of our fundraising and outreach activities. We are certainly blessed with musical gifts here.

We always need new people in all these areas, and more. If you want a detailed list, and you want to know who to contact: it is here in the directory.

Each activity, each area is equally important. The preacher is not more important than the compassionate helper or the administrator or the coffee maker. Do “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think,” says Paul. Sound advice especially for the ordained and for elected officers. No one role is meant to elevate the person or persons playing that role above the others. They are all to be used for the common good of this church community and of the world we serve.

It is also important that we engage in and enjoy what we are doing. The spirit with which we carry out our role and use our gift is as important as the act itself. Paul hopes for a cheerful care giver and a generous donor. That is also why it is important that we do not just have a few people doing everything … or doing it forever. Using the gifts, we have been given, and as Paul implies, everyone has at least one gift from God, is a key part of the self-offering, the living sacrifice we present, that Paul started this section of his letter with. Remember: None of these gifts require supernatural skills, they are all normal abilities of a practical, caring nature. They are love expressed in concrete action. They are the living out of the promises of our Baptismal Covenant.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, to present yourselves, your time and your talent and your treasures, as a living sacrifice, that is holy and acceptable to God.

Amen.

Being and becoming children

A Sermon preached on August 20^th, Pentecost XI, at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Holy Baptism: Ezekiel 36:24-28, Romans 8:14-17, Mark 10:13-16

Last week we had a young adult Baptism, this week our baptismal candidate is a child: David Leonard is 1 1/4 years old. Anglicans do both – is this yet another case of us not being able to decide? Are we Catholic or Reformed? Both! Is Christ really present in the Sacrament of bread and wine or is it just a memorial? Both! The Priesthood of all believers or Orders of ministry? Both! Baptism of adults or children? Both! Actually, these are not examples of Anglicans not being able or wanting to decide. Sometimes both is the right answer, just as Christ is both human and divine. Then of course there are cases where there really is only one possible choice, both doctrinal – one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism – and ethical and moral. In the recent events in Charlottesville, VA there was no “both” and there were not “many equivalent sides.” There was a right side and a wrong side, because racism, antisemitism, white supremacism and Nazism, whether new or old, are always wrong, as this our host country knows only too well. 

But as far as baptism are concerned, we recognize different paths and choices. Some people only come to faith later in life, and had parents who did not have them baptized, either to give their children a choice, or because the parents were not Christian. For others, the message we heard from Jesus in the Gospel has priority. “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” (Mark 10:14) Membership in God’s family through Baptism, is we believe equally open to children and does not require their knowledge or understanding at that time. However, David’s parents and godparents will promise to ensure that he is brought up in the Christian faith and life and so gains that knowledge and understanding.

When we met to talk about Baptism and to prepare the service, Jennifer and Fabio asked if I could include the following poem. It is called “On Children” by Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer from the turn of the 20^th century. 

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them,

but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children

as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Analyzing poems is almost as bad as explaining jokes. I make no claims to know what the poet was thinking, or what exactly Jennifer and Fabio like about his work. But there are three things I take from this poem …. And all three are also reflected in today’s readings:

1. While God is not explicitly mentioned in the poem, Kahlil Gibran was born and raised as a Maronite Catholic Christian.  When he writes, “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself,” Life has a capital L and is I think as much an image of the divine as the archer he mentions in the last verse. Our children are of course our children, but they are also the children of God.
2. “And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.” Children have a value and life of their own. Our role as parents and godparents is to love them, to equip them for life, and to help them fulfill their potential. For us as followers of Christ that includes, as David’s parents and godparents will promise, by their prayers and witness, to help him grow into the full stature of Christ.
3. “You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.” Our children are not supposed to be little copies of us. On the contrary, Gibran writes, it would be good if we could be like our children, at least in their open, hope filled, and expectant attitude to the future.

So how are these themes mirrored in the two New Testament passages we heard this morning? Well we do not have to look far to find the first idea in Paul.

In Romans 8, Paul says that everyone who has received and accepted God’s Spirit, is a child of God. This status of being God’s child is freely available to anyone who chooses, it is a gift. Part of that gift is the promise that we will share in Christ’s glory, that we will be given the same status as God’s only Son ….. but another part is the reminder that we do not know what life holds in store for us or for our children when, as Gibran puts it, they are sent forth like living arrows.

In the passage from Mark’s Gospel we hear clearly how important children were for Jesus and how indignant he was when his disciples tried to prevent them getting near Jesus for a blessing. In the society of that day, children had a relatively low status, but nor for Jesus who welcomed anyone who wanted to see and be with him.

Jesus goes beyond just welcoming children. He raises them up as an example to follow: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15) What does it mean to receive the kingdom as a little child, what sort of childlike behavior is required? In the extract from Romans, Paul identifies the following qualities of the children of God. Fearlessness: “you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” An attitude of joy at the great gift we have received: “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Being both expectant and hopeful knowing that we are “joint heirs with Christ” and that if we suffer we will also be glorified with Christ. I also asked our Wednesday Bible group what they thought were the qualities that would allow us receive the kingdom of God as a little child, and they came up with the following list:  innate generosity, loving dependence, innocence, simple faith, trust, being open and receptive. 

As it turns out Baptism, adult or infant, is always about children. Whether we are still officially children, and some of us never seem to stop, we are all called to a childlike attitude towards our Lord: trusting, loving, open, and generous. David Leonard is already a member of one little human family by virtue of his brith. By water and by the Spirit of God we will now make him a member of a much bigger family, of Christ's Body the Church.

Amen.