Sermon by Elliott Siteman

Photo Credit: Lawrence OP on Flickr.com

Sorry, no audio this week but the sermon text follows:

There’s a lot going on today – though that’s nothing new here at St. Luke’s – so I have a challenge ahead of me this morning. Today I have to talk about the Reign of Christ, Baptism, and it is Stewardship Sunday to boot. In some way I have to attempt to connect all of these things and how they relate to the scripture we have heard today. Oh and I need to be brief. So I will confess to you that earlier this week I was at a bit of a loss and approached this task with fear and trembling.

Well, all I can say now is… buckle up – it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Today we bring to an end the Christian Calendar. We conclude our year with the festival of Christ the King or the Reign of Christ as it has become known. We sum up all that we have experienced in our year by pointing ourselves toward the one inescapable truth – that Jesus is Christ is our King! And that king reigns in all that we do, in all that we are, and in all that we share.

And what a wonderful way to express this joy – this reality in our lives as Christians – by welcoming new members into our midst through the waters of baptism.

These families were two of the first families to be prepared in our new program. I am exceedingly proud of these families and I want them to know that. They have shown commitment and have taken this with the seriousness it deserves. And I think I speak for the vast majority of those gathered here – it is glorious to hear your children during our worship services! And to you I say, thank you, thank you, thank you.

We come to this great festival that should be full of celebration and joy and we are met with a Gospel reading that is less than cheery. When I first read the lections for this day I was extremely troubled and dismayed to find the story of the crucifixion. But the more I sat with it, the more it made sense to me.

Here’s how it made sense to me (and how I think it makes sense for our celebrations today): we are baptized with water. Water is the outward and visible symbol we use. We use it because we need water to live AND water can kill us. Water is both living giving and life taking.

We are baptized into the crucifixion; in that when we are baptized we die to an old life that comes to an end. In the waters of baptism we drown all that separates us from God. In the waters of baptism we wash away the chaos that is sin and death.

The crucifixion is central to what we believe and how we live out our baptismal covenant. For through the crucifixion we have been given a life that has no end. The crucifixion does not make any sense without the result that is the resurrection. If the story ended with the crucifixion then we would not be here today. But the story does not end there… Jesus, our King, passed through the crucifixion to give us eternity with God.

Again the symbol of water is what is important here. Water gives us life. Thus, through the waters of baptism we have found new life. Through the waters of baptism we are reborn into a life that has no end. Through the waters of baptism we are united as a community that is so full of life that is cannot be contained and we simply must look beyond ourselves.

Through the waters of baptism we respond to that new life by making promises to live the life of those who are redeemed, of those who are saved from sin and death, of those who believe that Christ is our King and through him we live and move and have our being.

And so, what does all this have to do with stewardship?

In the waters of baptism and through the waters of baptism we make a covenant with God and in that covenant we promise God to live the life of heirs. As heirs of God’s creation we are to be good stewards of our promises to live lives of disciples.

I’m not sure if many of you are fans of the TV show The Simpsons but there is a very poignant episode that sums this up very well… at least for me.

Bart has a major project to do for school and he has left it too late. Late in the night he gets on his knees and he prays to God for a miracle – for a snow day. He prays that if he gets a snow day he will use the whole day to do his homework to the best of his ability. His sister Lisa overhears this plea.

The next morning Bart’s miracle happens – he gets his snow day. But rather than do his homework he is running down the stairs with his sled. Lisa meets him at the door and says, “I heard you praying last night and you promised God that if this miracle happened you would do your homework. Now I don’t know who or what God is but I do know that God is more powerful than Mom and Dad put together so you had better do what you have promised.

With those words Bart heads back to his room, and does his homework.

I don’t know who or what God is, but God is more powerful than all the Moms and Dads put together so we had better keep our promises to the best of our ability.

My prayer for Ava and Isla, and indeed for us all, is that we will see that as baptized people we can rejoice in all we do because Jesus, our King, has prepared the way for us so that we need not fear. That in the waters of baptism we will recognize we are connected to something far beyond ourselves. That through the waters of baptism we may joyfully go forth so that we will be with Jesus in Paradise.

Amen.