Sermons 2003-2004

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Easter 2C 2004 John 20:19-31

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

We dont know if any of the disciples had ever been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. We know from the gospels that Jesus was. But the disciples were certainly baptized with the Holy Spirit on this day when Jesus appeared to them in their midst.

And we are here today to baptize little Morgan Corinne Allard, child of God. And her Baptism, like all of ours, is a sacrament and a mystery.

In baptism, we receive a new identity. And more importantly we become the new creation we were meant to be when we were first born. In baptism, we are covered with Christ. A little boy in Sunday School was once asked what baptism means, and he said, "Baptism is when God puts a cross on your forehead, and nobody sees it, but God sees it."

To be baptized means that when God looks at us, He sees Jesus. We are no longer defined by how we've missed the mark. We are defined by Jesus Christ and the unique relationship that each of us develops with him. As St. Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, (that person) is a new creation."

Not that baptism means that life is easier. You and I know that's not true. When we leave worship and go back into the world, as we are called to do, we will hear those same messages again. "Do this, and be somebody." Buy this and be important. Get yourself some of this so you can amount to something." Pressure, peer and parental, both good and bad.

Nor does that mean we instantly become only pure and good. Not at all. It means that we have been given a standard to meet, a gift, an eternal and everlasting gift that we see before us all our days to live into and which transcends space and time.

Our baptism is with us to protect us when we are in the dark night of the soul the Holy spirit is always with us to guard, guide, and protect. Theres a story about a priest who was often in one of those dark passages of life and we all have them to some degree or another. He also had times when he felt that doubt and despair. He also had times when he was tormented by his inadequacies.

But when this happened, he would take a piece of chalk, and go over to a table, and he would write out the words, "baptizatus sum," which means, "I am baptized." He was reminding himself that God had claimed him in Christ, and nothing could ever change that. No one, nothing, nobody could snatch him out of the Savior's hand. That Gods Holy Spirit was always there with him.

All of us have such times in our lives, times when the lies we hear seem to find a home in us, times when we too have doubt and despair, times when we are all too aware that we have missed the mark. At such times, may we remember that "baptizatus sum." We are wrapped in Christ. This is the truth about who we are, and nothing can snatch us away from Christ.

Baptizatus sum. I am a child of God, and God has spoken to me the same words he spoke to Jesus: "You are my son. You are my daughter. You are the Beloved. With you I am well pleased."

I know that sometimes we may have difficulty trusting that. I was told just this week about a Bible study group where the leader asked each person to these words about themselves: "I belong to Christ. Nothing can ever snatch me away. I am the beloved. God is wellpleased with me."

Each person said this about themselves. But then they got to one person who just wasn't about to say it. Maybe he didn't believe it. Maybe he was just too shy. Whatever the reason, he just couldn't say it. And so one of the other men went and stood behind him, and put his hands on his shoulders, and said, "This man belongs to Christ. Nothing can ever snatch him away. He is the beloved. God is wellpleased with him."

Whether or not you are able to say these words, baptism means that Jesus Christ stands behind you all your days for time and eternity. He puts His hands on your shoulders, and He says, "You belong to me. Nothing can ever snatch you away. You are the beloved. God is wellpleased with you." This is what God has done in Christ for all the baptized, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

AMEN

From various InterNet and other media sources now unknown and from previous baptismal sermons.