A Sandwiched Faith, April 26, 2009

Luke 24: 36-48
Acts 3:12-19
Mark Twain was once asked whether he “BELIEVED in Infant Baptism?” To which he retorted, “BELIEVE in INFANT BAPTISM, Good God, I have seen it happen at the Presbyterian Church!”

One of the problems for our having faith, is that religion has become so routine, so much a part of secular culture, that before a child is born, we know the circumstances of her life. She will be Baptized at which she will be given a name; when she is 15 she will be Confirmed; at age 18 she will graduate High School and go off to College, at some point she will marry and have children, all of life seems mapped out as Given. But it is not. Baptism was never intended as a RITUAL of announcing a Birth. The Water of Baptism was reminder that as Mortals we are born out of Water Breaking, and as in drowning, we all die, but in Baptism we claim the drowning of SELF and birth of ETERNAL, EVERLASTING SPIRIT. In Baptism, we give this child to God, knowing that she is a gift from God, her life will be filled with surprises and opportunities we cannot imagine, yet she will never be alone, she is a child of God and loved by the community of faith.

The English Majors among us, will recall that in Literature there are what have been named the PRIMACY EFFECT and the RECENCY EFFECT. Primacy, dictating that what happens at the beginning of a story, determines where the story ends. The Holy Spirit appearing to Mary, identified that this would be a child of God, who would change the world, John's Baptism for REPENTANCE determined that The Christ and give the world a new spirit, renewed faith, surpassing and changing al that had ever been. Different from the other Gospels, LUKE does not see the Cross as Victory, for Luke: Jesus was God's Gift of Grace and Love to the World, and HUMANITY said NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! But the Resurrection was God's redemption of the World, claiming YES INDEED! Infant Baptism places a sign and seal on this child that they are loved, and will be prayed for, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS in her life. Recency, concludes that the author knows the ending, so everything in the story is understood and interpreted through what will happen. For Luke, that ending has yet to come, and our lives, the purpose of the Church is working out the REDEMPTION of the WORLD.
We live sandwiched in between: our faith grounded in the Hebrew Bible and the Historic Man Jesus of Nazareth, and ultimately we will all be reconciled to God, we believe resurrection and redemption are possible for all the world. The question of this life, is “Sandwiched between what has been established over thousands of years, and what will be thousands of years in the future, what do we believe and what shall we do?”

We live as a sandwiched population, cognizant that the parameters of human life expectancy have changed. In the 1970s, we believed a full life was 70 years. Retirement had been established at age 65 because given our lifestyle and diet, our bodies wore out. Today, if a person only lives to 84 or 86 and does not live to 90 or 100 we think it a shame. There are those among us who fought World Wars and survived Great Economic Depression. As spouses and children, we are now needing to step up, to take responsibility for balancing their checkbook, driving them where they need to go, making home repairs for our parents, and friends.
Meanwhile, our children are combining classes and creating whole new fields of study, questioning “Why be limited to studying Economics, or History, Medicine or Literature, or Engineering or Philosophy, why not study the impact of Literature about Economics and Politics throughout History on the future of Aero-Dynamics and Neuro-Linguistics?”
We live between the two, caring for and providing for our parents and grand-parents, while hoping and working for the future of our grand-children's children yet to be imagined. There is a “quality of respecting what has been”, while knowing the world is changing, we are changing. We have endured in a time of planned obsolescence, where we built things, homes, appliances, cars to wear out. The challenge of a SANDWICHED FAITH, is choosing instead to respond in faith, to stand up for what we believe.
As the Pastor in this community, this is my favorite time of year. NOT simply because the temperatures are warming, or things are coming to bloom, though this has been a long winter of discontent. NOT because things we have worked at all year, Sunday school classes and Confirmation are coming to fulfillment, though the students and the teachers have worked very hard. BUT because at this time of year, the whole church is gathered together. Those who have been in this community for a lifetime and have retired to live elsewhere return home. Those who live here, and work here and have their children in school, have not yet put their boats in. And we are able to listen to one another, and challenge one another, and be the church.

We cannot live a disposable world. Regardless of whether you believe in Global Warming, there is not space for all the rubbish we create. There are not enough new resources to fill our ever expanding hunger to possess. The point is NOT MAKING ACCOMMODATION, doing without, but rather, being Intentional ACTING IN FAITH, taking seriously who we are and rather than serving ourselves, listening to a faith that calls us to serve others and to care.

Peter and John went to Solomon's Portico, and encountered a man begging for help. Instead of giving him CHARITY, treating him with PITY, as less than human, as everyone in life always had done, they responded with faith, they prayed in the name of the Jesus Christ they knew who had died and risen from the grave, that this man would be whole. Peter was the first to claim, MIRACLES ARE NOT BY OUR DOING, not because we are more pious or powerful, or good, but because of the love of God, so that all the rest of us would witness and act differently.

A couple who had endured Cancers and had tried to adopt and had been disappointed several times, have been given the gift of a baby. Could there be a greater miracle?

We live in an exciting time. For the last many decades, the Church in North America has made accommodations. Parents have gotten a divorce, so their child will go one week to this church and another week to another and the third and fourth weeks, we will sleep in. What if we could turn this on its head, and celebrate a faith that the children lead their parents to faith!

What if the building of the first Clinic in South Sudan, was not a cement structure for all time, but instead gave people hope that they could do a great deal more.

What if, instead of being a generation that finds a way to make things work out and does without, we acted boldly, with confidence even greater than we can prove...that's faith right? Possibly, we would convince ourselves.

What if the creating of an Ecumenical Food Pantry was not an end in itself, but the beginning of Churches working together to make a difference in people's lives. When I was very young, there was a new Ice Cream Shop being built, and the owners invited the Jewish Rabbi, the Catholic Priest and the Presbyterian Minister for an Ice Cream, as they introduced that they wanted to name the shop The HOLY COW. In the 1960s that was ECUMENISM. Today, we make compromises, so as to allow others to act in faith. We question the similarities of faith between Buddhists and Muslims and Judaism and Christianity. What is unique about Christianity in this, is that Christianity and all the rest believe in ONE GOD and in Sacred teachings from a Messiah, but Christianity believes the world said NO, no to compassion, No to possibilities, no to faith, and God said YES INDEED!