"Baptism of New Beginnings"
Being open to the power of the Holy Spirit
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Text: Acts 10:34-43
In the town of Hodgenville, Kentucky, the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, there is a plaque on the City Hall. It has been there for a very, very long time. On it, there is an inscription of a conversation that took place between some townspeople. They must have been well-known or else their names wouldn't be up there. The plaque simply records the following exchange:
“Any news down the village, Ezry?”
“Well, Squire MacLean has gone to Washington to see Madison swore in and Spellman tells me that this Bonaparte fellow has captured most of Spain. What is new out there, neighbour?”
“Nothin'. Nothin' at all, except for a new baby born to Tom Lincoln. Nothin' ever happens around here anymore.”
Isn't it amazing that so many things go on in this world and we scarcely comprehend them? Isn't it amazing that God is at work doing all manner of things but we do not have the eyes to see them or the ears to hear them? The Calvinists refer to this as “the mysterious sovereignty of God.” God is at work, even though we often don't recognize or acknowledge it. There is more going on in this world than we can ever comprehend.
Behind that very belief is our understanding of the sacraments of the Christian Church. Whether it is the Sacrament of Holy Communion, where we break bread, drink wine and remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, or in the second sacrament, the Sacrament of Baptism, there is this belief in the mysterious sovereignty of God at work. From its very beginnings, the Church believed that God was at work in these two great acts. They were assigned to us by the apostles and they were there at the very beginning of the Church's life.
Especially this morning, I want to look at baptism. I want us to see the impact of the mysterious sovereignty of God in what we have just done. From the Church's outset, baptism was considered the rite-of-passage, the singular event that recognized that someone was a Christian. From the earliest Christian literature to the very early texts of the Bible to the earliest liturgies of the Church, many of which were instructions for people who were to become baptized, the Church recognized this singular event as a sign of God doing something powerful in the life of a believer. It is fascinating that all four Gospels contain the account of the one baptism on which all other baptisms are based, namely the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth. It isn't referred to very often afterward in later writings, but it is in today's passage from the Book of Acts. Here, we find an account of the baptism of Jesus, and why it is important for us.
We are in the season immediately following Epiphany. When the Church was separated in the first millennium between the East and the West, Epiphany came to mean two different things. In the Western Church, it was identified with the arrival of the magi, the kings, and it represented the gentile world coming and worshipping Jesus and being included in the covenant that God had with Israel. In the Eastern Church, the emphasis was placed on baptism, on the reception of new members into the life of the Church. An epiphany, then, had this baptismal component in it.
I think that in our text from the Book of Acts, and in the baptisms this morning, there is a sense in which the East and West come together. Gentiles enter into the Covenant of God through this Sacrament of Baptism, which then becomes the universal way of expressing that someone is a Christian. It really is an epiphany that these two should come together. In this passage, Peter gives a sermon to a man called Cornelius. He stresses the fact that Jesus of Nazareth himself was baptized, and that this baptism was the inauguration, the beginning of his ministry. Everything that happened thereafter - his ministry of healing and power, his teachings, his death, his resurrection - all began at his baptism.
Here really is the crux. In this passage, there is the belief that all of this occurred through the mysterious sovereignty of God, which is carried forward by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus' baptism and his ministry became efficacious because of the power of the Holy Spirit. His ministry was empowered by the Holy Spirit; his death and resurrection confirmed the role and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, according to this sermon in the Book of Acts, all believers can receive that very same power of the Spirit and, through the act of baptism, confirm the mysterious sovereignty of God.
This morning, we have baptized nine children. We have had families declare their faith in Christ. We have used water, as John used water when he baptized Jesus, but it is always in the power of the Holy Spirit that this baptism becomes effective and powerful in our lives, not just in the lives of the children that are baptized this morning. It is incumbent on all of us who have been baptized to think about the role that the Spirit now has in our lives. As the Spirit was the inauguration of Jesus' ministry, so it is the source of new beginnings for each and every believer throughout time.
There have been debates about the chronology of the relationship between baptism and the Spirit. Does one receive the Spirit first and then get baptized, as some have suggested? Is it synonymous? Do they happen together - the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit being bestowed? Or is a person baptized and then receives the Spirit? I would argue that when you look at the New Testament you find all of those - the Spirit being received before baptism, during baptism and after baptism. It really doesn't matter. What matters is that baptism takes on its power only because of the power of the Spirit, and our Christian life and our Christian walk with God is only really meaningful if the power of the Holy Spirit is within us.
So how does the Spirit then change our lives? How does baptism have meaning for you and me? Well, I think it changes three things for us. The first thing it changes is the way in which we see and follow Jesus Christ. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books by C. S. Lewis that have become very popular over the years. Many of you will have read them or seen the movies and know the Narnia story, so I am alluding to something you will understand. If you haven't, believe-you-me, it is something for your children and grandchildren to read.
C. S. Lewis was interviewed about the writing of the Narnia series and what he wanted to convey with it. In the interview, he talked particularly about the arrival of Aslan, the lion who represents none other than Jesus Christ. Aslan sings at the creation of the world, just as Jesus is there at creation in Genesis. Unfortunately, there is a cynical character - and I hate that Lewis called him this - Uncle Andrew. Anyway, Uncle Andrew cannot believe that the lion is singing. In the dark, he hears this song and he hates it. It troubles him to his core; he doesn't want to hear it. Why? Because he doesn't believe that this sound is a good sound. Finally, after the dark, the light comes and he sees Aslan the lion singing. He says, “How ridiculous! A lion - of all things!” We all know that lions don't sing. Lions roar and growl. So Uncle Andrew shuts out Aslan's song; he refuses to hear it. He teaches himself not to hear the lion sing, but only to hear the lion roar. The problem is that, because he taught himself not to hear the lion sing, when eventually there is this “Narnia Awake,” and all the beasts begin to sing along with Aslan worship God the Creator, Uncle Andrew just hears roaring and noise. Having taught himself not to hear the song, he loses out.
I think, in many ways, our obsession with rationality, at times, and our desire to know and understand everything God does causes us not to hear the “song of Aslan.” But the power of the Spirit comes along and allows us to hear it. It allows us to understand the meaning of the death and the resurrection of Jesus, not only as an historical artefact, but as a personal engagement with us and with our lives and with our sin; a way of turning us around and changing us. It enables us to see a Jewish man not only walking around speaking about the new covenant with the Lord of Life, but also inviting people to sing the song of creation; not only to witness somebody who was powerful and did good things, but to see - and this is critical - the mysterious, sovereign power of God working in Jesus' life and ministry. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can you see, know and understand that, but it also profoundly changes the way in which we see human beings. One of the things that Peter says in his great speech in Acts 10 is that God has no favourites; there is no a priori for coming into the Kingdom of God. It doesn't matter whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, a slave or free, or male or female. All people can receive the baptism. All people can receive the power and love of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Does this mean, then, that it is just open-ended, that there is nothing required of us? By no means! Peter goes on to say that those who fear the Lord and do right belong to God. In other words, there is an ethical dimension to the work of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit allows our lives to conform to the ministry and life of Jesus Christ. As forgiven people, we can do what Christ did and follow Christ in a fuller way for the sake of all humanity. There is no blockage; there is nothing to prevent anybody from being able to experience that. So the Church always has to be inclusive in its understanding of baptism. It always has to have an open door to people who are willing to make a profession of faith, regardless of their background or what their lives have been. If they are prepared to confess Christ, then that is enough to open up the door for the power of the Holy Spirit to work in their lives and change them. This is a new view of humanity, and it was a radical one in the time of the centurions and the Romans. It was a radical one in terms of the relationship between Jews and gentiles. It was one that overturned the whole way in which people thought about God. But Jesus opened that door for the whole of humanity to worship the Lord of Life and to hear Aslan's song. It also transforms you and me. This morning, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, we have baptized these children, we have made a confession of faith, but now we need something more.
Andrew Young, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, was being interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Peter Mansbridge. Young is a notable man: He was the mayor of Atlanta and very much involved, as I knew well, in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He's a fascinating man who has travelled all over the world, and he made an interesting comment in this interview. He said,
The world is on the edge of something. I don't know what it is. It is more than the trouble in the economy. It is more than the challenge of the environment. It is more than the challenge of ethnic uprisings. It is more than inter-religious conflict. It is more than the gap between rich and poor. The world is on the edge of something and what is needed, more than anything, is for us to be open to the power of God to help us deal with it.
To be open to the mysterious power of God! He was asked the question, “Well, what about Obama? What do you think about the new president?”
Young replied, “He's a great man. He'll do great things, as long as he stays close to the Spirit of God.”
That not only applies to presidents, or prime ministers, or principals or other leaders. It applies to every one of us. It applies to the whole way in which we live our lives. It is our prayer for these children we have baptized that they will be close to the Spirit of God, because it is the Spirit of God alone that directs us in the path of God's wisdom - to be able to hear the “song of Aslan.”
When I look back at Barack Obama's inauguration speech, a speech I thought went a bit flat in places, there were some great lines. These are the ones that I picked out - you might have picked out your own. He said,
We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to re-affirm our enduring spirit; to choose a better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea passed on from generation to generation, the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
I agree with Obama. I agree with him completely. That is exactly what Peter was saying in his speech to Cornelius: All people can serve God and all people can be free to do what God calls them to do. But I would say to Obama that there is one thing that is needed beyond what he said in his speech; there is one prayer that should be on our lips every single day - for him and all the leaders of the world, for every child that is baptized, for every new creature that comes on this earth, and for ourselves - and that is that vision only comes about in and through the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the mysterious, sovereign power of God working among us.
Let it never be said, “There's not much going on in this place.” Let it be said, “There is more going on than the eye can see or the ear can hear, because the Spirit is at work.”
Amen.