"Initiation"
First Congregational Church - Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Baptism of the Lord - January 10, 2010
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[texts: Isaiah 43:1-7/Acts 8:14-17/Luke 3:15-17, 21-22]

As you know, I like words and initiation is a good one. Here is how Webster’s Dictionary defines it: “1 a : the act or an instance of initiating b : the process of being initiated c : the rites, ceremonies, ordeals, or instructions with which one is made a member of a sect or society or is invested with a particular function or status 2 : the condition of being initiated into some experience or sphere of activity.” It comes from the Latin initium - to begin, to commence, to enter. So ‘initiation’ means to begin or enter something, very often with accompanying rites or ceremonies to mark it, as the definition said.

When I was a freshman in college we had to wear beanies, you know, skull caps in the school colors. We had to wear them for certain functions and if you lost yours – including having it snatched off by an upperclassman – you had to sing all four verse of the school song from memory or face consequences. I managed to avoid most of the kafuffle of orientation week, but at the school picnic, I lost my beanie. Here the consequence was being thrown in the lake…..and I never learned to swim. So, I sang from: “In the midst of rolling prairies ‘neath fair skies of blue” all the way to “When from hear our paths may sever and we distant roam; still abides the mem’ry ever of our college home….” I was initiated, matriculated by admission (made part of the web) and am still a proud alumnus.

The Eastern Church tends to sing its theology. While the West separates the Epiphany from the Baptism of the Lord, the East combines it with the three kings and the first miracle at Cana into one celebration of Theophany - the Lord’s act of self-disclosure. One of the pieces sung that day is this antiphon:

At your baptism in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was revealed. For the voice of the Father bore witness unto you the beloved Son, and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed his word as sure and steadfast. O Christ our God who has appeared enlightened the world, glory to You!

What we have in this liturgical text is sort of a précis of what this day is about. We also catch the point that it makes something hidden visible. So, when we celebrate the Lord’s Baptism we see the sacrament of Baptism as a seal of the covenant and as a challenge to come to community, it is an act of initiation.

What do we mean when we talk about the seal of the covenant? The covenant, or binding promise, God makes again and again is that of relationship. God says to us, "I will be your God and you will be my people." In the person and work of Jesus Christ, God raises humanity to an even more intimate relationship. When God speaks his Word into human flesh, he incorporates us into his own Divine life and we become "partaker of divine nature." The great teachers of the early Church saw what this did for humanity, giving us a new dignity, and a renewed identity as the children of God. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote in the fourth century:

Jesus comes out of the water, drawing the world with him, as it were, and raising it up when it had hitherto been sunk in the abyss. He sees the heavens, not being rent, but opening of their own accord. The first Adam had of old closed heaven to himself and us, just as he had seen the earthly paradise being closed to him, with a fiery sword barring access.

The Holy Spirit bears witness. Here all is in perfect harmony, for the testimony comes from heaven, just as he to whom the Spirit bears witness has come from heaven.

["Homily on the Baptism of the Lord" quoted in Adrian Nocent, The Liturgical Year, vol. 1, p. 219]

The nineteenth century Congregational theologian Robert W. Dale saw these same implications and concluded that when Christ is baptized ALL of humanity is baptized and raised to this new dignity.

What we see happening here is the sealing of the covenant, or the certification or authentication of the relationship. Jesus is, then, not baptized because he needs it - perhaps that’s why John protests? - but because we do. Jesus becomes representative of all humanity, because in his humanness all of us are now taken up into God. This incorporation - embodying - into the Divine community of the Trinity makes us part of the family of God.

God’s extended family encompasses people of every race, place, and time. Peter and John were sent to those folk at Samaria to bring them into fellowship, to initiate them into community. They laid hands on them – a ritual gesture of initiation and one we continue to use across the Christian tradition – and the Spirit came upon them. They knew that they were part of the Church – those called and set apart for God’s service. If these things are true - and they are - the seal of the covenant then challenges us to live in community. Nathan Mitchell, a contemporary liturgical theologian, has written:

We are urged to move quickly beyond the intimate scene of Jesus’ birth toward the more challenging vision of his baptism. In short, we are asked to move in the direction of life itself: from concern for intimacy to concern for community. [in Liturgy vol. 1, no. 2. 1980]

Almost nine years ago we received a wake-up call -- the events of September 11, 2001 – which was for the United States and for the world. At that moment we began to realize afresh the value, the priority, and the need for relationships and, particularly, for community. Over the years our initiation into the world of security – including coded alerts – chafed, but we dealt with it. And now events on an Amsterdam to Detroit Christmas day flight are telling us that just maybe our initiation didn’t carry through as well as we had thought. Once again we need to look at the value of community and community concerns, moving beyond the partisanship that too often cripples us. We have to see the bigger picture of the common good. I believe that churches are in a unique position to aid growth in community and concern for the common good if, and only if, we don’t allow institutional concerns and narrowness of self-focus to get in the way.

If God calls us into relationship, then each of us is called into relationship with one another in turn. We have heard the kerygma, the primary proclamation of the Gospel as Peter preached it earlier in Acts. We have responded to the message of God’s love expressed for us in a fully human way and now we - who eat and drink with him each time we gather around the Lord’s table - are to testify to that love by the community we build. You see, we preach by our actions, as well as by our words.

So, what does Christian community look like? First, it is a community gathered around a common vision of faith and purpose. We have this here at First Church in our covenant and everything we do should be measured against it. Second, it is a community committed to worship and to prayer. Again, we’re well on our way here, but there is always room for improvement in this basic area - we need to be praying for each other every day. Third, it is seeking to grow in knowledge and depth of spiritual life. We’ve still got a way to go here, but we’re making progress. Fourth, it recognizes, encourages and develops the spiritual gifts of its members. Here’s the area I think we really need to focus on in the coming year, especially in light of the new governance process, which counts on church members really being MEMBERS – think arms and legs – and not ‘volunteers’ or ‘hangers-on.’ We should be asking ourselves what gift or gifts do we have and how can we best serve God in our church and in the larger community? Moreover, we should be helping each other to discern these gifts by pointing them out, encouraging them, and providing opportunities for them to flourish.

The fifth aspect of Christian community is that it is a group willing to grow and to reach out to the larger community on a variety of levels. It is intentional in its sharing the message of God’s love and welcoming in its attitude. We need a bit of work here and this coming week we have that opportunity to invite someone to share in worship here. Sixth, it is a community that uses its resources effectively and is not afraid to take risks to bring goals to fruition. I am convinced that churches NEVER have money problems, only faith problems. I rejoice to say that this is one area where we’re making progress - though there is always room for improvement, because there is a good core of folks who support the Church’s budget, but many who don’t contribute or do only at a minimal level!

Finally, a Christian community is a loving, caring, welcoming place where people walk in the door and know that they’re cared for. From time-to-time we should put ourselves in the place of those who visit us here at First Church - if we were just coming here for the first time, how would we feel? There is no question that this is a loving community – people comment on it, but sometimes we get complacent and spend so much time with folks we know that we don’t reach to those we don’t. Again, I believe that we’re working hard at this aspect and succeeding. However, loving communities can always become more loving.

Isaiah tells us that we are not to fear because the Lord has redeemed and has said, “I have called you by name, you are mine.” He also says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” That is the core of the original covenant promise – God said, “I am with you. I am your God and you are my people.” This is what Christian community is: it’s a place where we know that our names our known and that we are cared for. It’s a place where we are safe to bring our hurts, our brokenness, our disappointment, and our pain without worrying that someone is going to strive to make them worse. It’s also a place that we can come knowing that we will be empowered to leave our hurts behind, to be healed, supported, encouraged, and become renewed. Moreover, that empowerment will allow us to reach out to others in loving, welcoming, even healing, touch and relationship.

Becoming that kind of community begins with our initiation into God’s community. Baptism - the seal of the covenant – is the sign of our incorporation – our embodiment in this community. Then we have to rise to the challenge to be what we say we are: to BE God’s people, to become a community of faith. Our baptism, then, is an issue of response-ability, if you will. How are we able and how are we willing to respond to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? It’s a doctrine that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, especially in terms of its implications as a sacrament of initiation. It’s a rite of passage, yes. It’s an initiation into the family of God, yes. It’s a proclamation, a response to faith, yes. But all those ‘yes’ answers lead to the greatest affirmation - and that is that we are to become the Body of Christ in the world. What Jesus heard on that long-ago day, so do we. God, our Heavenly Father, who in the prophet says that we are “precious” and “called by name” says to us – if we’re listening – “You are my Son…….You are my Daughter….the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” It’s a doctrine, a teaching worthy of singing and worth the initiation ritual ( and far better than a beanie!). Now, the voice speaks and we have risen from the water, what do we do about it?