Lenten Services
St. Matthew Lutheran Church & Piney Grove UMC
March 29, 2017
Genesis 1:1-5, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
These
Lenten services we have been focusing on baptism, being claimed, named, and
clothed. Rather than jokes at the end derailing the sermon, I’m going to tell
it at the beginning. Are y’all ready for my favorite baptism joke?[1]
There
once was a church who had a terrible problem with bats, who had settled in the
rafters. These bats were brave and would swoop down over people’s heads during
services. When the bats first showed up, the pastor got a cat, which she let
sleep in the church at night. But the bats remained. Then the next pastor hired
a professional exterminator, who, at great expense, fumigated the entire
building. But, to no avail; the bats would not be moved. Finally, a new pastor
was installed, and in just a few weeks, the bats were gone. The parishioners
were delighted. On Sunday, one of the congregants asked the new pastor how she’d
gotten rid of them. “Oh, it was easy,” she said. “I baptized and confirmed all
of them, and I knew I’d never see them again.” (It’s making fun of the kids who
are raised in the church, baptized and confirmed, and then once they become
young adults and church is optional, they’re never heard from again. It doesn’t
happen to everyone, thankfully.) The joke is funny because
it’s true for some. Not y’all, because y’all are the baptized who still keep
coming to church!
Tonight
we’re going to talk about how we are enlightened because of our baptism. To be
enlightened means to be given knowledge, to be instructed. The time period in
European history known as the Enlightenment, the 18th century, is
called that because it was a time when considerable emphasis and importance was
placed on intellectual thought and philosophy. It was also called the Age of
Reason because reason became the primary source of authority and legitimacy,
and there was a focus on ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity,
constitutional government, and the development of the scientific method.[2]
With a focus on those ideals, it’s not a surprise that both the American
Revolution and the French Revolution happened at the end of that century, at
the end of the period of the Enlightenment. This was knowledge imparted not
just in the university among the elite, but among the people. This was what
changed government from an absolute monarchy and introduced the idea of the
consent of the governed. The French Revolution was about getting rid of elitism
and the nobility and feudalism and leveling the playing field. Everyone could
be enlightened, because everyone has the faculty of reason. Is it really any
wonder, at least to us Methodists, that this is the same century when John
Wesley lived? Because of the societal reforms being made, partly as a result of
Luther and the Protestant Reformation the previous two centuries, Wesley could
then push for reform within the Church of England. Part of the Protestant
Reformation was to make the faith more accessible. Worship in your own
language, instead of in Latin. The printing press made the Bible more
available, and literacy started to spread. This all fed into the Enlightenment,
where you could learn and read and think for yourself.
So,
to connect that to baptism, in baptism, we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
We are instructed and given “the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ,” to quote from our 2 Corinthians reading. Through the gift of
baptism, we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enlightens us
with all the gifts necessary for living our new life as baptized members of
God’s family.[3] In
baptism, this is symbolized by lighting a candle. Some churches have tall,
extra-large Paschal candles that will be brought out for baptisms and then from
there, light a smaller candle to give to the person being baptized. I still
have mine, from my baptism. For years, on the anniversary of my baptism, my
parents would take me and light my baptism candle and say a prayer with me.
That baptism candle is a reminder that we have received Christ’s light in our
baptism. We were baptized into new life, and into new light.
The
use of a baptism candle started back in the early Church, which used to use
Lent as a time of preparation for new converts who wanted to be baptized. They
would take the 40 days of Lent to prepare them, to get them ready, to enlighten
them and teach them about the faith. Their baptisms would then occur at the
Easter Vigil service. Has anyone ever been to an Easter Vigil? I have once,
with a friend who was Russian Orthodox. It was amazing, and unlike any other
worship service. It started about 1 a.m., early, early Easter morning. The
service went until about 3 a.m., when then everyone was invited into the
fellowship hall for a big feast. And we ate and the mood was very festive and
we didn’t go home until about sunrise. Here, on Miami Beach, at Easter sunrise,
you get that new light, of the new day, and that’s how baptism is, too. It’s
being born into a new life, which is why being baptized on Easter, or Easter
Vigil, is so fitting, because it’s all about new life, leaving the old,
entering the new, leaving the darkness of sin and entering the light of God.
Now,
that’s the idea, that’s the goal. But sometimes we’re like those bats.
Sometimes, we prefer darkness. Or, better the darkness we know than the light
we don’t know. Or we’re afraid of what the light will expose, because we don’t
want the truth to be known. We don’t want to change. We like living how we’ve
always lived. We think nothing of making excuses for why we are the way we are.
We don’t think anything will be expected of us. Perhaps this is why the Church
used to take 40 days to prepare people for baptism and a new life! Sometimes,
even when we know better, we act like being baptized and being part of God’s
family isn’t important, it doesn’t make a difference. We ignore God’s Word. We
exclude people from fellowship.[4]
Our words and our actions don’t really line up. We talk the talk but don’t walk
the walk. We may be baptized, but we refuse the gift of light, or we forget the
gift of light, of enlightenment. We are afraid of what will happen if light is
brought into the dark shadows of our lives. Beloved, God is already there. God is already in those dark shadows. God
already knows all about them. You don’t have to be afraid. God already knows.
And you don’t have to be afraid about your brothers and sisters finding out.
You know why? Because in the United Methodist baptism liturgy, the congregation
promises to the person being baptized to “surround that person with a community
of love and forgiveness.”[5]
A community of love and forgiveness. Every time we’re tempted to go back to the
darkness, we can remember that not only are we part of God’s family, we’re part
of a community of love and forgiveness. Yes, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, we
were once darkness. But now you are light in the Lord. Walk, live, as children
of the light.[6]
Just as God said back in Genesis 1, “Let there be light. Let light shine out of
the darkness.” Out of the darkness, comes light.
Light
shows forth each day in the way we live as God’s baptized children. These rings
are what I gave out at children’s time last Sunday.
The bottom line of the
children’s message was that we light up the world by loving instead of hating
and by caring for those who need help.[7]
It’s a light-up heart, because our light shines through from our heart. A lot
of times, it’s a choice every day to decide to live in the light. I’m reminded
of another ring, the ring from DC Comics’ the Green Lantern. It gives him
power and the ability to fly and it shines a bright green light, but it’s not
magical. The Green Lantern has to plug the ring into a power battery, a
lantern, to recharge. We have to recharge, too, in order to be able to shine
our light without burning out. That’s part of what Lent is about. Recharging,
remember who we are and whose we are, remembering we do have the light of
Christ. We are enlightened. And while it’s a one-time baptism, it’s not a
limited battery life. It’s more like a lantern we can plug back into. It’s a
candle that keeps burning, even though the flame may grow dim. Your intellect
and ability to learn is not set or fixed. You can grow, you can learn, you can
retrain muscles. Old dogs can learn new tricks. You are enlightened because you
have the light of Christ. You don’t ever permanently lose the ability to shine
your light, even if you fly off with the bats.
In baptism, we receive the light of Christ. We
are now God’s children. We have been forgiven. We don’t have to stay in
darkness, or return to it. Let past sins be past sins. Don’t worry about what
the light will reveal, because, as Jesus said, the truth will set you free.[8]
You are now in new life in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God!
[1]
From Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy,
Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life by James Martin,
SJ
[3]
Adapted from Baptized: Marked for Living!
By Rev. John D. Hopper, our inspiration for our Lenten services’ focus on
baptism.
[4]
Much of these previous sentences are adapted from Baptized: Marked for Living! By Rev. John D. Hopper
[5]
UMH 35
[6]
Ephesians 5:8-9a
[8]
John 8:32