Baptized for Hope

 

Summer time and the preaching is not easy. Neither the Letter to the Romans nor the Gospel were particularly "easy" texts. And with the way things are in our American society, with a president and his regime who are dedicated to disruption and discord, it is very hard to wrap my mind around themes of "hope" and "love" while acknowledging that all is not right and good on the other side of our Episcopal red doors.

It is further complicated by knowing where I am in the country: in a place where my little congregation is one of the few that isn't a church ascribing to the white Christian Nationalist mindset, while surrounded by those who do.

Every week feels like a tightrope walk. And I keep stepping carefully.

See what you think.

Texts: Romans 8:12-25, Matt 13:24-30, 36-43

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One of my most favorite services in the Episcopal Church is baptism.

I love it when we get to formally welcome people into the larger Body of Christ…and celebrate with them as they’re brought into this greater connection through the symbol of water...and invited to participate fully in the meal served at this table.

And I love that we all get to take part in that welcome.

We not only rejoice with those who we are baptizing…we also get to speak to our own place as children of this Love that is God.

We make promises to keep doing the work that comes with our inheritance…to keep praying…keep loving… and keep striving for justice and peace.

Baptism is our ritual to mark a person joining a new family…taking on a new identity and becoming another one of our siblings.

And that can be particularly important to people who may have felt caught off from their families of origin for one reason or another.

That feeling of belonging is vital to our mental well-being.

Baptism not only means we gain some new aunties and uncles in the church.

We are also being adopted as beloved children of God…marked and sealed as Christ’s own forever and handed that light of Christ to burn in our hearts and lead us to being good stewards in our communities.

We’re grafted into a larger family tree that is bigger…broader…and filled with the hope that our branch of this tree will produce really good fruit.

That’s a lot of what Paul is driving at when says,

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”

If that sounds good to us…it was even more important to the members of the emerging Roman churches of the First Century.

These churches were made up of Jews and non-Jews who were mostly living on the  margins of the Greco-Roman society.

Some were recently freed slaves…some not even native to Rome.

The ways of the Empire hadn’t changed much from the time of Jesus’s crucifixion.

There was still a lot of classism.

And the military and well-connected held power over the labor class.

The Roman Emperors used to declare themselves to be god and expected the people to worship them.

For the Jews hearing this letter of Paul…the words to not fall back into “a spirit of slavery” recalled the story of their exodus through the Sea of Reeds as they fled Egypt into freedom.

For both the Jews and non-Jews in the churches…the feeling of adoption and belonging was a bonus.

Paul’s expression spoke to that sense of freedom from oppression…and the liberating Love of God.

“Adoption” also served as a useful tool for people who were accustomed to living under the laws of the Empire.

Under the Greco-Roman law of adoption…the family name and property could be passed on to a chosen heir…preserving the family lineage.

In fact…Emperor Augustus…not having any male heirs of his own…adopted Tiberius before his death so that he could have a successor of his own liking.

But Paul puts a twist on this adoption language.

Paul says those who become one with God in Christ have secured something even more binding.

Because God has adopted them spiritually.

And as adopted spiritual children of God…they’re now full members of this family not hung up on power plays on earth.

God has become closer to them …and this relationship is so personal that they can call God, “Father” or “Abba.”

These ordinary citizens…who did not occupy the seats of power in government…and couldn’t hold public office in some cases…are hearing from Paul that they have something better…richer…fuller.

They’ve been clothed with a different kind of sovereignty…one that has made them Christ’s adopted siblings….with an equal share of his inheritance…making them heirs to a freedom possible through Christ’s life…death…and resurrection.

This is the legacy that is passed on to us through our baptism.

To be heirs of God…and siblings of Christ…is both amazingly freeing…and it comes with some costs as well.

Because what comes with our inheritance is the same mission that Jesus was on in the world:

"To bring good news to the poor;

Sight to the blind;

To proclaim release to the prisoners

And to liberate the oppressed." –Luke 4:18-19

 

All very good and noble words to say.

Doing those works…stepping outside of our comfort zones and striving for a more just and equitable society is not easy.

It involves working together…even with those we don’t always agree with on everything…in the hope of making a difference that we may or may not ever see in our lifetimes.

It means taking a good long hard look at what’s happening around us and doing the work of discernment about what we see and having that vision of what could be better.

It’s like what Jesus is saying in our Gospel lesson about wheat and weeds.

Again…just a little bit of background here to understand this.

There was a weed…called darnel…that was very toxic…and grew in the climate of the Middle East.

It closely resembled the wheat crops of Palestine…and would shoot up between the wheat. 

Farmers had to be careful to tell the difference between the good wheat and the darnel as they did their harvesting…otherwise they’d ruin their harvest.

So just as Paul used the ideas of “slavery” and “adoption” to make a point…Jesus is using this agricultural metaphor to caution those eager to kick out anyone they thought wasn’t worthy or a “real” follower of the Way.

This is important for all of us to remember…particularly right now as we live in a culture where there is so much coming at us on a daily basis and attempts to get us to turn on one another…scapegoating communities and people for problems that require much more thought and attention to address.

Our work is not to get into the judging business.

Our work is to get into the questioning business.

To ask why is that people are going without food and shelter?

What factors contribute to some places receiving resources and others not?

How do we break some of these cycles and work toward a better society for all people regardless of their race…ethnicity…identity or other factors?

The fact that inequities still exist means that we have an obligation to keep asking the questions…and pursuing the solutions.

This is how we live fully into our baptisms…and how we make good use of our inheritance as the adopted beloved children of God.

This how we keep hope alive not only for ourselves…but for the generations to come.

In the Name of Our One Holy Undivided Trinity.