A Baptism Talk
Introduction
Welcome Heidi to the odd growing community
of people who want to learn more about God’s amazing love and grow in faith.
That’s what baptism means. It’s about becoming
part of a community that is on a voyage of discovery.
That’s why we said at the beginning of the baptism
ceremony “In baptism the
Lord is adding to
our number those whom he is calling.”
You see, baptism doesn’t actually make you a
Christian - otherwise we would just say “In baptism the Lord is adding to our number.”
But in baptism people become a part of a
community of faith that is on a journey together.
What parents, godparents and all of us do is pray
for Heidi and promise to help her stay on the path we’re all on - until she’s
old enough to decide for herself. And hopefully, by the grace of God, she’ll choose
to stay on the path then as well.
Some people get baptized when their parents
say “This is how we want to bring our children up. We want our little ones to
know that Christian values are our values.”
This is what Ben and Victoria have done this
morning. Other people get baptized in a different way. They wait until they are
old enough to say for themselves “This is what I want to do.”
Some people dress up to be baptized. Prince
George did for his baptism back in October. But others come just as they are. It
doesn’t matter - God honestly isn’t all that fussed what the baby wears.
Some people get baptized with a little bit
of water on the head. The main thing is to not drop the baby before I give him
or her back to the parents. Other people go right under the water in a pool or
river. Then the main thing is to remember to pull them up again before they
drown and make sure no one gets electrocuted on the PA system!
The Outside and the Inside
But what’s important is not really the outward
form of the ceremony. The important thing is what’s going on inside.
The Bible says that people take notice of
outward appearances, but God looks at the heart. We notice clothes and shoes,
we notice new hair styles. But God looks deeper than that. He sees the real me
and the real you on the inside. He knows everything there is to know about you -
and he still loves you.
You might be wondering why we picked a
reading about a wedding for a baptism
service. Has the vicar finally gone senile and mixed his services up?
Well no! Here’s why I chose that reading. For
a start, the really important ingredient in a wedding is not the dress, the
rings, the bells, the cake or the best man’s speech. It’s not the bride’s
father ‘dad dancing’ or the bride’s sister butchering the hymns.
What is most important about any wedding is the
love between the bride and groom and their promise to go on loving each other
whatever happens after that.
We remember what people are wearing and who’s
here for the party but God is most interested in the love of the bride and
groom. People look at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.
Whatever we remember today, the songs, the
promises, the water, the reception afterwards - God loves you, Heidi, he knows
you inside and out, and he is calling you to know him. And nothing is more
important than that.
Miracles Then and Now
I love the story in the Gospels about Jesus
changing water into wine. I mean, isn’t it good that we have a God who turns up
to people’s parties and says “You don’t look like you’re really enjoying
yourselves enough; here’s a bit more alcohol to be getting on with!”
It’s not the way people tend to think of God
– but the Bible says that people criticised Jesus for eating and drinking a
parties too much. They wanted something more religious and unexciting from the
Son of God but Jesus just isn’t like that.
It’s one of Jesus’ amazing miracles. Jesus’
miracles aren’t just magic tricks – in fact John’s Gospel calls them “signs”
because they always point out something important about God. Turning water into
wine points to something important about what God is like.
But have you ever wondered what would happen,
in this health and safety obsessed age, if Jesus did his miracles today in
Stockton on Tees? They’d lock him up.
Take the feeding of the 5,000 for example. Jesus
fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish – it shows us that he
is a God who cares about hunger and he provides. But these days, serving bread
and fish to crowds at an outdoor event couldn’t be done without a license from
the local food inspectors. He’d have to have a certificate to show it had been
properly handled in a hygienic environment. And the pest control people would
make a big fuss about the baskets of leftovers being disposed of properly.
Jesus walked on water. It shows us that he
is not limited by the things that restrict us. He is above nature and master of
it. But these days, walking on water wouldn’t be allowed would it? It could
only be done if it were preceded by a disclaimer that no one should try it at
home without a life jacket and a qualified lifeguard on hand.
What about the miraculous catch of fish? This is when Jesus told some fishermen who hadn’t had a bite all night to throw their nets over the other side of the boat. When they did the nets bulged with fish so much they nearly tore. It shows once again that Jesus is over all creation. But well, that wouldn’t do today. Due to EU quotas to prevent overfishing, the miraculous catch would no doubt exceed the permitted limits leading to severe penalties.
Then there’s the healing of a man born
blind. Jesus touched his eyes and they were opened. It shows that our eyes can
be opened whether we are physically unable to see or whether we are spiritually
blind. But if that happened today, imagine the nightmare from the DSS. All
disability benefit would be stopped immediately and the man would face an
intrusive investigation into whether his previous claims had been genuine.
Raising the dead? Jesus raised several
people from the dead; the widow of Nain’s son, Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus. It
shows that he has power over death. Well, the environmental health wouldn’t be
happy about this one as there are strict rules governing the proper disposal of
bodies. And think of the headaches trying to explain to the bank after the
formerly diseased person tried to use their credit card.
As for turning water into wine, this would provoke immediate protests from the drinks industry who would argue that it was unfair competition amounting to a monopoly. It would also be denounced by various Christian bodies as irresponsible and encouraging drunken revelling.
What does this amazing miracle mean?
Bring to Jesus What You Have
In our culture, no one can come to the
wedding reception unless they have received a nicely printed invitation. But
the Middle East in Bible times, your entire village - plus anyone who wanted to
come - could just turn up.
In our culture, a wedding celebration lasts
less than a day. In the Middle East in Bible times, wedding parties usually
lasted about a week.
But this is a lovely thing; Jesus will gladly
attend any wedding that he is invited to. And after the wedding, Jesus will
gladly help any husband and wife in any marriage where he is welcome. And I
hope he is welcome in your home.
At this wedding, the bride and groom are in
a major fix. They have run out of drinks (partly perhaps as a result of Jesus
turning up with his 12 mates). Running out of food and drink would have been a
great disgrace and a major embarrassment.
As you bring Heidi up, you will need tons of
wisdom and bags of patience and loads of love. And possibly the odd glass of
wine now and again. Jesus is an inexhaustible supply of all those things.
Here’s what I love about this story; it shows
us the way that God works. The newlyweds didn’t have what they knew they needed
but they brought to Jesus what they had.
You see, every parent has moments when they
just don’t know what to do next. Children go through phases of temper tantrums
in Tesco’s. Or they are ill and nothing seems to work. Or they constantly ask
you questions when you are absolutely exhausted.
When I was about 3 or 4, it was the mouse. I found a dead mouse in the garden and I was thrilled. I decided to adopt it as a pet. It didn’t do much but it was small and furry and I thought this dead mouse was cute. But my mum inexplicably failed to see the potential in my new pet.
This went on for some time. I still remember my mum’s screams! Every parent has times when they just don’t know what to do next.
What’s lovely about the wedding at Cana is
that they give to Jesus what they have – and he takes care of the rest.
They have six stone water jars (and the Bible
says that they were “the type used by the Jews for ceremonial washing”).
Basically, they were used to wash dirty feet. You walk around dusty streets in
open toed sandals and dip them in the pots to freshen up before supper. If
you’re looking to serve up something nice at the reception it’s not a lot of
good. But it’s all they have. Six empty foot washing jars and a tap. Jesus
says, “All right, fill them up.” I’m sure they protest. “Yeah, I know Lord but
what we need is wine!”
Jesus just looks at them. They realise in one
of those heart-sinking moments that he is serious. So they do what he says and
they bring the six dirty, stone jars filled of water to Jesus. He looks at them
in the eye, keeps a perfectly straight face and says “All right, now serve it
up.”
It’s not recorded, but I sort of wonder if
they just burst out laughing and said “That’s brilliant, that is! You know what
I love about you guys from Galilee – you’ve got a terrific sense of humour
haven’t you?! … You’re not joking are you?”
And showing scrupulous even-handedness, it
must have been the lad on Work Experience who was assigned the task of serving
it up to the person in charge.
“Go on, you do it.”
“Why me?”
“Because you need the experience, it’s part
of the training course, go on.”
So the young lad, with a lump in his throat,
brings this dull, warm, tap water from the foot washing pots up to the master
of ceremonies. You can just imagine it can’t you?
“Oh, they’ve sent you have they lad? I’ll
tell you a trick of the trade. They always serve the top vintage first and when
the guests have had so much to drink, they can’t tell the difference, they whip
out the cheap plonk. This’ll be disgusting…”
“Wow. Where did you get this from?”
To be honest, would you have said “Oh, out of
the foot washing pots!”
“Is it all right then?”
“All right lad? It’s the best I’ve ever
tasted!”
“It is? Oh, it is!”
“Have you got much of it?”
“180 gallons.”
Ending
2,400 half pint glasses of the very best grand cru.
As you bring Heidi up, take the little you
have and bring it to Jesus. And watch him take care of the rest; doing in your
family far, far more than you could ever ask for or imagine.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on
Tees 18th May2014
Thanks to
Eric Delve for inspiration for the story telling.
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