SERMON PREACHED BY THE REV'D ROBERT L. YOUNG, SSC, AT THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT,
SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2008, THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

Fr. Young is the Rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Grand Prairie, Texas.

St. Peter wrote: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Today, my wife and I are here for the incorporation of our grandchildren, William Robert and Annelise Jacquelyn Vander Lugt into that new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead through Holy Baptism at this Mass.

Before I say anything more, I want to do four things: First, I want to thank Fr. Warren and Fr. Gray for the privilege of giving the homily on this occasion; second, I want to give you greetings from the Curate of my parish, Fr. James Eanes, who is a former parishioner here at the Advent; third, I want express our appreciation for all the kindness the people of the Advent have shown toward Andrea and Brian throughout the period surrounding the twins’ birth; and finally, to say to you that you don’t know how lucky you are.

You don’t know how lucky you are, but I’d like to give you an idea. In that regard, you need only consider the lections appointed for today. The Gospel lesson alone has 6 major themes: (1st) Doubt and Faith (2nd) the nature of Christ’s resurrected body (3rd) the authority given to the apostles to forgive sins (4th) the gift of the Holy Spirit, (5th) the gift of divine peace, and (6th) the proclamation by St. Thomas of the risen Jesus as Lord and God.

In addition, the Old Testament lesson containing the story of Noah’s family passing through the waters to safety (a precursor of Holy Baptism) is a gem, the Psalm is rich in meaning, and the Epistle lesson from First Peter is a theological gold mine. It seems to me that each of these is surely worthy of a 20 minute sermon, and given the opportunity for a grandfather to wax nostalgic and schmaltzy over the baptism of his grandchildren, taken together that’s approximately 3 hours, 30 minutes of sermonizing.

However, I do not intend to speak anything like that long.

Now does that give you some idea of how lucky you are? I hope so, because one of the points I want to make in this homily is that we really don’t know much about what will happen here this morning when we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and are sprinkled with water at the Vidi Aquam as a reminder of our own baptism in the Season commemorating Christ’s risen life.

Now, I don’t intend to suggest there isn’t a lot to say about Baptism or about Jesus’ resurrection, there is. What I mean is that despite all there is to say, what we can say remains inadequate. That is because baptism and resurrection are two of the holy mysteries of our faith. So, if I really did preach 3 ½ hours this morning, I would still only scratch the surface. After 27 years in the priesthood I am not so ridiculously naive, so stupendously arrogant, or so woefully ignorant as to suppose I could do more than that - scratch the surface. Yet here I am and here you are, and we will now tread on holy ground by the grace of God - for that has been God’s intention for us all along.

Of the precious little we mortals can fathom about Holy Baptism, we do know that it is a covenant; or more precisely, it is part of the new covenant with God made by Jesus Christ through his life, teaching, passion, death and resurrection. It is nothing less than an eternal covenant between the baptized and the Lord God of the Universe, the Maker of all things. It is the covenant Jesus spoke of at the Last Supper when he said: this is the new covenant in my blood. It is the fulfillment of the psalmist’s vision in Psalm 111 when he wrote that God will keep his covenant for ever.

Yet the Psalmist does not stop there. He goes on to state that God gives food to those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. Now we know what the Psalmist couldn’t know, we know what food God gives because he is ever mindful of his covenant, don’t we? The Bread and Wine of the new covenant into which Will and Annelise will be baptized and into which we have been baptized, is the very spiritual Body and Blood of the risen Lord Jesus.

When the day comes for these children make their first communion, and every time you make your communion, his divinity is mixed with your humanity, not theoretically or philosophically, not by suggestion or metaphor, not by dream or by hope, but bodily. The one who made you and these babies knows our nature, that we are both physical and spiritual creatures.

The Lord knows we need the spiritual to be communicated to us through the physical. In this new covenant the divine spiritual mysteries are given to us through the humble physical elements of water and oil, bread and wine, - and feeble human hands are made the instruments of celestial glory.

Just as he gave physical life to William and Annelise, to you and to me, so he gives them and us, spiritual life in Baptism. Through a new covenant, conveyed by water and the Spirit, Jesus Christ shares his resurrection life with them, with us, with you, with me.

If this seems foolishness to you on God’s part: to entrust mortals with the bread of angels, babies with an eternal covenant; to enter mouths that lie and curse, lives and bodies that are sinful, broken, and weak; then I only ask you to remember the words of Holy Scripture: “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” The Creator of all knows what he’s doing and our business is not to question such mercy and goodness but to worship and adore it, indeed to revel in it.

In his Epistle, St. Peter speaks of the newly baptized as newborn infants. It’s obvious that William and Annelise are. But I tell you, before such mysteries of divine love and generosity, so are we all.

Every year on this Sunday, we recall that the Apostle Thomas doubted the resurrection of Christ. Thomas doubted because it all seemed too good to be true. Surely his friends were self-deluded; clearly they had given themselves over to wishful thinking. But, as Thomas soon discovered, it was true – a spiritual wonder evident in the physical marks of the nails in the hands of the risen body of Jesus.

Now, it is tempting for me to stop at this point. The last words you would hear then would be about “newborn babes” and God’s goodness in the new covenant.

However, there is more. It is not enough simply to hear about what God has done, is doing, and will do. A covenant is a treaty, an agreement, with two sides. Those in a covenant put themselves under obligations, ways to demonstrate their fidelity. In our case, fidelity to God and to the vows of their baptism.

And so there is a message for us when the Psalmist says: Great are the deeds of the LORD! They are studied by all who delight in them. After all, we cannot fulfill our baptismal promise to continue in the apostles’ teaching if we do not study their teaching. We cannot proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, if we do not study it to know it.

We, the baptized, have a covenant obligation to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the words God has inspired, the words recorded in the Holy Bible. If you have yet to learn to love of the words of eternal life written in the Scriptures or if you have permitted your love to grow cold; there is no time like the present to discover that love or to renew it. To study the love letters God has sent humanity is not simply a duty, it is a joy. So, indulge your spirit, refresh it, in the pages of Holy Writ.

The Psalmist goes on to vow: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. We cannot continue in…the apostles’…fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers unless we are here, at the Mass, in the assembly, here in the place appointed where God gives to his people assembled the food that is food indeed, the drink that is drink indeed, his body and his blood.

We are those called not only to live, but as St. Peter in the Epistle lesson states, to live in faith. We are not live as others do, who have no true and eternal hope. We are not meant to grub our way through a pointless, meaningless life of meager satisfactions, fleeting pleasures and enduring sorrows: life without God. We are the baptized, called to live in faith now, and ultimately to know endless joy for ever and ever in the world without end.

The Psalmist says of the Lord: All his commandments are sure. Outside of the covenant, God’s commandments seem to be merely restrictive, do this, don’t do that. Like the toddler who resents not being allowed to run out into traffic, there are many who do not understand the loving purpose behind the commandments: that they exist to keep us away from attractive traps, miseries that will eventually diminish or destroy us, make a mess of our lives and waste the precious gift of mortal life while endangering the more wondrous gift of eternal life.

Instead, the Commandments help us to live out who we really are, who we were made at our Baptism: children of God, the People of God for whom the gifts of God have been given. After all, natural life is not enough for us; eventually it leaves our souls hungry for more. We covenant people need never settle for that. We are those who may freely feed on the sacraments, the Scriptures, the fellowship of the faithful, and the worship of the God of the Covenant.

What a travesty it is for a baptized soul to be starved by its own neglect or the neglect of others! It’s like being given a new Rolls Royce or a Maserati and seldom driving it because you won’t buy the petrol and oil; then pouring sawdust into the gas tank by willful sin.

A solemn agreement has been made between the Supreme Reality and poor doubters like Thomas (and sometimes, you and me), between Infinite Holiness and finite sinners, between divine Truth himself and foolish human beings, between the Eternal and Omnipotent Lord and the children of men born in time and space: children like William and Annelise, you and me. No wonder people doubt – like Thomas – it all does seem too good to be true. But the time came when Thomas saw and believed.

And he wasn’t alone that day. There in the room with Thomas was St. Peter, Peter who at first had also thought the resurrection was an idle tale. Yet this same Peter who later wrote: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I say to you, this is your birthright as the baptized: believe it, live it and love it, as I pray William and Annelise will.

Amen.