Matthew 3:13-17
Endings, Beginnings, and Pilgrim Journeys
James Sledge January
12, 2014 – Baptism of the Lord
Roger
Nishioka, professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary and
former director of youth and young adult ministries for our denomination tells
a story that I assume comes from his time as a youth worker in a congregation.
Kyle
was nowhere to be found, and I missed him. In the weeks following his baptism
and confirmation on Pentecost Sunday, he was noticeably missing. Several other
members of the confirmation class asked about him too, as did his confirmation
mentor. Kyle and his family had come to the congregation when he was in the
fifth grade. They attended sporadically, so I was more than a little surprised
when I asked him and his parents if he was interested in joining the
confirmation class and they responded positively. In this congregation, the
confirmation class happened during the ninth-grade school year (as if God calls
all ninth-graders simultaneously to be confirmed, just because they are in the
ninth grade). Kyle and his parents came for the orientation meeting and agreed
to the covenant to participate in two retreats, a mission activity, work with a
mentor, and weekly classes for study and exploration. Kyle was serious in
attending and missed a class or event rarely. He quickly became a significant
part of the group and developed some wonderful friendships with other
ninth-graders who had barely known him. Since Kyle
had not yet been baptized, he was not only confirmed but also baptized on
Pentecost Sunday. It was a marvelous celebration for all the confirmands, their
families, and their mentors.
That
is pretty much where it ended. That is when I knew we had done something wrong.
When I checked in with Kyle and his folks, they all seemed a little surprised
that I was calling and checking up on them. I distinctly remember his mother
saying, “Oh, well, I guess I thought Kyle was all done. I mean, he was baptized
and confirmed and everything. Isn’t he done?”[1]
Kyle’s situation
is far from unique. It’s so common there’s even a joke about it. Several
pastors are having lunch together when one of them shares that they have an
infestation of bats in their steeple. The other pastors suggest a variety of
things that might rid them of this problem, but it seems they’ve all been tried
without success. Finally the Presbyterian pastors says, “We had that problem
and solved it. We enrolled all the bats in our confirmation class, and once it finished,
we never saw them again.”
For
some reason, church folks are often good at mixing up beginnings and endings.
It happens with confirmation. It happens with Christian education/formation
where people “graduate” from Sunday School when they graduate high school. And
more than a few parents come to have their children baptized – I’ve heard them
refer to it as “having the baby done” – then disappear entirely, another
beginning that got changed into an ending.
When
baptisms and confirmation and professions of faith become endings rather than
beginnings, congregations tend to become static places focused on institutional
maintenance, buildings, and how things have always been done.
But
congregations where baptisms and professions of faith are beginnings tend to be
vital, active places where Christian formation is a lifelong endeavor, where
adults not raised in church find a place to learn and grow into a deep life of
faith, and where new ministries are always bubbling up because people
continually engage Jesus’ commands and follow him in ministering to the world.
Jesus
himself epitomizes baptism as a beginning, and his baptism is meant to be the
model for ours. In his baptism, Jesus is publicly announced as God’s beloved
child, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. This leads to a time of identity
honing temptations, followed by the beginning of his ministry and the calling
of the first disciples.
We
are invited into a similar pattern. Whether baptized as infants or adults, we
are claimed by God and gifted by the Spirit. This calls us to grow into our
baptismal identity, to wrestle with what it means to be a child of God and how
that is distinct from simply being a citizen of the world. And this always
leads to ministry. Every single one of us called to work and ministry that is
always evolving and changing as the Spirit directs us to be the body of Christ in
the midst of a constantly changing world.
Baptism
begins us on a journey that continually shapes and forms us according to the
ways of God’s coming dominion, even as we work to show that new day to the
world. Christian faith is not static but dynamic and moving. It constantly asks
Jesus, “What would you have me do? Who would you have me help? Where would you
have me go?” Disciples always move toward God’s newness, and so a disciple’s life
moves forward, always beginning, never finished.
Of
course that does not always come naturally to us. When Moses brought the Israelites
out of slavery in Egypt, they begged to go back rather than face an difficult
and uncertain journey into the wilderness. As the Ethiopian poet Hama Tutu
said, “Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t.”
Yet still, over the centuries, it has been
common to speak of Christians as “pilgrims,” as people who were headed
somewhere. And indeed we are. We are journeying toward the promised land,
toward that kingdom Jesus says has drawn near. We are often tempted to stop and
say, “We have arrived. This is our destination.” But our baptism continually
call us toward God’s new day, and we are always beginning anew on our wonderful
and exciting journey.
____________________________________________________________________________
Today
in our worship, we celebrate Gretchen Kuhrmann’s music ministry here over the
last 16 plus years. We mark an ending, and we say, “Farewell.” Such moments are
hard; they are difficult and filled with emotion and sadness. At such times I
think it is important to remember that we are all on a journey, and none of us
is there yet. Gretchen is a beloved and Spirit gifted child of God whom Jesus is
calling to new ministries along her pilgrim way. We at FCPC are also beloved
and gifted children of God, and Jesus us is calling us to continue our journey
as well, moving toward God’s kingdom, ministering and growing as we go.
In
Gretchen’s baptism, in your and my baptism, God declares, “You are my beloved
child, with whom I am well pleased.” The Holy Spirit descend upon us, and we
are called to become disciples and pilgrims, apprentices and travelers,
learning from our Master as we follow him along the way. Gretchen, continue to
listen for the voice of the Master as you journey on your way. Sisters and
brothers in Christ, continue to listen for the voice of Jesus, as we at FCPC continue
along our pilgrim way.
[1]
Roger Nishioka in Bartlett,
David L.; Taylor, Barbara Brown (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 1, Advent through Transfiguration (Kindle
Locations 8563-8577). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition
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