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Sermon for the 1st Sunday of LentIt has often been said that the season of Lent should not focus primarily on penitence, but on our preparation for baptism and baptismal renewal on Easter. That’s what the early church did, when so many of the baptismal candidates were adult converts. The whole season of Lent was pointed towards the waters of new life, as the community walked with the candidates in their journey to baptism.
Our readings today support this Lenten emphasis on baptism. From Genesis, we hear a portion of the story of Noah. After the waters receded, God promised that there would never again be a destroying flood, and put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of this covenant.
The 1st letter of Peter then gives a Christian interpretation to the story of Noah, saying that while only 8 people in Noah’s family were saved through the waters of the flood, many are saved by Christ through the waters of baptism. In both cases, life rises up out of death. Then in the gospel, Jesus himself is baptized in the Jordan River.
If we are to take up this baptismal focus for Lent, what might it actually mean to us? How might it help us in our spiritual growth?
Let’s remember what baptism is. It is not just a celebration of a baby’s birth. It is not just a way of being spiritually cleansed. It is not just a commitment to be in relationship with God through the church. It is first and foremost incorporation into Christ. As we say to the newly baptized You are now marked as Christ’s own forever. What does this mean?
It means that from baptism onward, our primary identity is Jesus. He is our friend and our role model. His way of life – everything he showed us by example and everything he taught – is to be our way of life. But more than that, he is the One who lives within us, helping us to become like him. This is what it means to say that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.
So we are in the process of becoming Christ. When we are baptized, we are incorporated, enfolded into him and his way of life. When we renew our baptismal covenant several times a year, we recommit to our life in Christ.
One morning several years ago I was inspired to sit down and leaf through all four of the gospels, making quick notes about what sort of person Jesus is, and what sort of person he asks others to be. What did I see?
Love everybody. Purify your heart. Don’t worry. Become simple and humble. Pray for what you need. Be merciful. Use whatever faith you have. Wake up to God, now. Die to yourself. Don’t put your trust in money or power. Heal those who are hurting. Face into conflict. Forgive others. Help the poor. Trust that God will bring good out of everything, even evil.
Exercises like this bring me back to Jesus. By remembering who he is and what he asks of me, I can then perceive him more easily as he stirs within my heart. As I go through my day, as I struggle with the things that challenge me, I am more likely to respond to life in a bit more Christly way, because I keep in mind who he is and who I am. Remember who you are: You are marked as Christ’s own forever.
And so Lent is a journey into Christ, for Jesus is our purpose and our end. As we move towards the baptismal waters of new life in Easter, we renew our devotion to his way of life. But this is easier said than done, isn’t it? There’s so much resistance, so many pressures to be something quite different than Christly. How do we make progress?
As can-do modern people, we tend to think in terms of goals, effort, and accomplishment. You can do anything, if you just set your mind to it. But spiritual growth is not like that. It requires of us something that is very different from self-improvement: it asks that we make ourselves available to the mysterious work of grace.
Most of you know by now that over the last 9 months I’ve been engaged in an intense time of discernment regarding my vocation. At some point along the way I realized that no matter what the outcome, one thing was sure: I would be changed by the process itself. I knew that by making myself available, by saying Here I am, Lord, make me more into the person you intend me to be – and by really meaning it – I would be changed.
For many months, I had no clarity about where God was taking me. It was a pilgrimage into the unknown, where I became subject to forces beyond my control that taught me things I hadn’t anticipated learning. I came out of it a different person. I will be a different priest.
In a meeting with the bishop the other day, one of our members who is moving towards ordained ministry said something quite striking. She said that she felt as if she were about to enter into a forest, not knowing what she would encounter there, or even what would be on the other side of it: an ocean, a cliff, a desert, a city…but she knew she was called to start walking into the forest.
Your Vestry went on retreat last weekend and entered into a similar forest. We reflected on all the new forms of energy that are bubbling up here: the infectious enthusiasm of those who are working on a new West Side mission congregation; our anticipation of a new Associate Rector who will bring new perspectives and activities into our community; my renewal of vocation that has come out of my recent discernment; the opportunities that will arise of the possible division of the Episcopal Church and our diocese; the work we’re about to enter into with a consultant to raise funds to improve our facilities so that we can expand our ministries; new outreach and other initiatives that came out of last summer’s Town Hall Meeting process; a reorganization of our staff including a team of deacons who will do inreach and outreach with lay leaders and guilds; and 4 new vocations, including one that will result in a major effort in Hispanic ministry through our parish and into the diocese. What an amazing convergence of energies we’re experiencing right now!
The Vestry could see that that all this has something to do with an expanded role for St. Michael’s in mission and ministry. And while we feel called in that direction, we don’t yet know how to get there or even where we’ll end up. So we just decided to make ourselves available to the work of the Spirit, to enter into that mysterious forest where anything can happen, where we will learn things we don’t anticipate learning. We have confidence that God will make our community more like Jesus, for that is our purpose and our end. Remember who you are: You are marked as Christ’s own forever.
This is what we want to share with you next Saturday at a special parish meeting. Will you make yourself available to this work of grace that is moving among us? Will you help your community discern where God is leading us in this stirring time?
What is true for me in my personal discernment, what is true for us as a community in discernment, is also true for every one of us in our Lenten journey. We are called to become more faithful to Christ, to live into our baptismal identity. But don’t have to accomplish our own salvation, our own spiritual evolution. We just have to be willing to hear the call forward, and to respond by making ourselves available.
I’d like to invite you to do a Lenten exercise, a little homework for this week. I suggest that you do what I do from time to time: skim through the gospels and take quick notes about what kind of person Jesus is. Note also what sort of person he calls others to be.
When you are done, look at your notes. You will see not only what Jesus is like. You will be looking into a mirror that shows you your future self; and you will see your faith community as we shall become - all of us made more like Christ, into whom we are baptized. Then pray every day that the Spirit will help you and your parish be available to this transformation.
Lent will then become a mysterious forest where we will encounter some surprises, both personally and communally. We will learn things we didn’t know we needed to learn. And on the other side, at Easter and beyond, we will be made new people in Christ.
End Document — St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church