ISAIAH 42:1-9

PSALM 89:26-29

ACTS 10:34-38

MATTHEW 3:13-17

Sermon – 1/13/02

Jesus’ Baptism – And Ours

If I was asked, “When did you enter the ministry?”, I would say “October 30, 1954.” That answer might produce a puzzled look from the person who asked the question, followed by “Gosh, you don’t look that old.” But that was the day I “entered the Christian ministry” because that is the date I was baptized. Every Christian has a ministry with responsibilities and opportunities by virtue of that person’s baptism; the ministry of a priest is one particular kind of ministry, but what commissions someone for ministry is baptism.

This was not widely recognized and celebrated a generation or two ago. Then, “ministry” was generally thought of as something that ordained people did, while lay people were “just” lay people. It’s the word “just” that we’re finally getting rid of. One of the truly huge changes in the Christian church, as huge intellectually as the intellectual revolutions pioneered by Copernicus in astronomy and Darwin in biology, is the change – still in process – to recognizing, and empowering and guiding every Christian in their ministry.

This transition is vital because this brings us closer to the New Testament vision of the church as a community of followers of Jesus with a variety of abilities, personalities, ages and both genders all of whom are called to follow Jesus as Lord and to live out his teaching in their lives. According to the Acts of the Apostles 1:15, after Jesus ascended into heaven all of his followers gathered together to choose a successor to Judas, the disciple who betrayed him, and the Scripture says “The company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty.” Clearly, only 10% of them were what we call “ordained”, and the percentage has never been that high since. The Church grew in both membership and quality not only because of courageous and inspired apostles, but because of an entire membership of people who were faithful, dedicated, excited, generous and contagious.

Over time, however, the Christian Church became overly hierarchical and overly institutionalized, stressing the importance of ordination too much and of baptism too little. In the earliest years of the Church baptism was an epochal event for an individual and for a family or household. For Jews, baptism meant accepting that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah and accepting equality with Gentiles within one community of faith – a revolutionary idea for both. For Gentiles, it meant renouncing paganism and the many divinities associated with any pagan cult, raising one’s morals to biblical standards, and suffering social prejudice at the least and sometimes violent persecution or martyrdom at the hands of the Roman authorities and/or mobs.

Once Christianity became first tolerated and then established as the official religion of the Roman Empire, all this changed radically. Political and social pressure pushed people into the Christian community, sometimes including those more interested in getting ahead than in getting to heaven.

At first, in the Fourth Century, baptism for adults was still preceded by a long period of learning and probation as a Catechumen, climaxed by baptism at dawn on Easter morning, when the candidates renounced evil in all its forms (often including some pretty specific forms they were very familiar with) and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

After a while, however, the Christian Church became a victim of its own success. Once more than 90% of the people in an area became baptized Christians, almost the only people left to be baptized were – babies. (Infant baptism had long been practiced, but usually in the context of converting families or as some of the baptisms which happened in churches.)

Baptism originally was celebrated publicly, at Easter, with the whole congregation present to welcome the newly baptized into the community of faith, and with the immediate reception of communion by the newly baptized. Nobody could miss the connection between new life in Christ and the new life of Christ celebrated at Easter – especially in Jerusalem, where baptisms were done right next to the empty tomb itself at dawn on Easter morning!

Likewise, no one could miss the connection between baptism and Sunday (the day of the Resurrection), between baptism and joining the congregation, between baptism and communion, and between baptism and the joyful, liberating new life God’s grace makes possible.

All that was lost in the Middle Ages. Literacy almost evaporated in Europe in the early Middle Ages, infant mortality was high, travel was perilous, communion for the laity was infrequent and the sense of joyful liberation was too often replaced by fear and superstition. When added to the Medieval belief that it would be impossible for an unbaptized person to go to heaven, this meant that baptism was typically administered as soon as possible after birth and often at the place of birth, and was seen as a way to ensure the baby would not end up in "Limbo" if he or she died.

No connection to Easter, to Sunday, to the congregation, to communion or to joy. And certainly no sense that with baptism came a great commission to service in Christ’s Name. No, that was seen as something extra special – like becoming a priest, monk or nun, or perhaps joining one of the (blood-soaked) crusades to the Holy Land.

With the Protestant Reformation came a return to the idea of each believer having a personal relationship with God which did not have to be mediated by a priest. However, there was great controversy when some women concluded that believers being able to have a personal relationship with God under their own authority meant that women could have a personal relationship with God and even interpret the Scriptures themselves. And while there was liberation from the old hierarchy of priests and bishops, clericalism – giving too much power and authority to clergy – continued to be a problem for Protestants as well.

That included Churches which tried to bridge the gap between “Catholic” and “Protestant” like the Episcopal Church. Great reform movements for education, evangelism and social action often carried multitudes of lay people into living out their Christian faith in bold and vigorous ways, but all too often less-energetic parishes settled for a definition of “ministry” as “whatever it is the minister does all week”.

This meant that the Rector of the church was trained to be, encouraged to be, and rewarded for being a “one man band.” (And in those days, they were all men). To use another analogy, the priest’s actions in the liturgy were like those of an actor on a stage, while members of the congregation were like passive theater-goers, with few responsibilities except paying and keeping quiet.

How radically different from the Church of the New Testament.

Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, baptismal practices and attitudes had changed only glacially since the Middle Ages. As recently as the 1928 edition of The Book of Common Prayer (the official book until 1976), the rubrics had to state that baptisms ought to be done in church except in dire emergencies, which implies that private baptisms in homes still persisted. And remember my baptism – October 30, 1954? That was in church – in a private service on a Saturday morning. Still no connection to Easter, to Sunday, to the congregation, to communion, or to the joyful liberating power of new life in Christ, never mind to being commissioned for ministry. That approach was typical of the 1950’s.

All that has changed – or is changing. Because face it, the new way – the New Testament way – is more work. If baptism is merely magical “inoculation” to prevent a child from going to Limbo (which doesn’t exist, according to the Bible), then there is nothing for the parents to do afterwards, either in educating their child in the faith – or in practicing it themselves.

If presenting a child for baptism, as our current Prayer Book states, means pledging to “help this child grow up into the full stature of Christ” then there is literally an infinite amount to do.

Likewise for a priest, it takes one set of skills to be “a one man band”; it takes a whole other set of skills to be an “orchestra conductor”. The latter set of skills is what is required to help a vast team of people in a parish use their abilities to the glory of God and in harmony with one another!

It’s a transition for priests – especially when some people come to church expecting to be passive theatre-goers watching someone “perform” and find the “performer” is also a conductor inviting them to learn an instrument.

To use another analogy, church used to be viewed by many clergy and laity as a place where lay people watched a solo performer; now the erstwhile soloist, hopefully, is a player-coach, doing things and recruiting, teaching and coordinating a considerable “team” or people with the help of a bunch of lay “assistant coaches”. Hopefully.

Perhaps the whole vast change in the Church would be made clear if we handed out a uniform to every newly baptized person with the person’s name on it and say “Now you’re on the team” That might sum it up.

I give this sermon today for three reasons. First, it is the feast of the Baptism of Christ, when we remember Jesus’ baptism, recall the power of the Holy Spirit that came upon him then and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that come now in baptism, and when we renew our baptismal vows, as we will in a minute.

Second, there are no baptisms today, so we can avoid thinking that a sermon about baptism only applies to the newly baptized and their families. Uh-uh. It applies to all of us who are baptized.

Third, next Sunday is the Annual Meeting. We celebrate the challenges and opportunities we have as a parish, neither of which we could do much with without a team of gifted, dedicated people. There’s still lots of room on the team. And everyone can start.

In fact, if this does it for you, as soon as you have reaffirmed your baptismal vows, picture yourself wearing a uniform shirt with your name on it. We have been recruited for the team by the Holy Spirit, our Head Coach is Jesus Christ, and the team’s owner is God the Father Almighty. The team has room for all kinds of people, plays every day, everywhere, forever. On this team we can experience excitement, community, satisfaction and greatness of purpose beyond all reckoning.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church