“In Our Way”
Mark 1:1-11
Romans 6:1-14
We have a rule in our house, which is probably a rule in your household too, that if you get something out you are supposed to put it away. Of course, on any given day, if you were to come over to our house, you would immediately see that this is a rule which we have a hard time adhering too. More times than not, there is stuff everywhere. Toys, jackets, book bags, and other odds and ends that for some mysterious reason end up not in the place where they are supposed to be. There is not a day that goes by that I’m not stepping over and around stuff on the floor, or skipping a step on the stairs because the things that have accumulated on one of the steps. You should see me at night trying to navigate around the girls’ room hoping and praying I don’t step on a jack or some other pointy object with my bare feet, and I cannot tell you how many times, while trying to be quiet late at night, that I have kicked one of Drew’s toys across the room banging it into the wall.
Of course, it’s not like Jill and
I are not picking things up. We are
picking things up and moving them out of our way all the time. It seems that we are constantly following the
kids around picking up after them, straightening their room, and putting their
things were they belong, or at least out of the way of foot traffic. And yet, the things we find in our way, the
things we bump into, and step on, and have to move around are really the
visible signs that our family is a living and active family. They are the visible signs of constant motion
and activity, energy and vigor. There is
always something going on at my house, someone is always doing something, from
the girls playing with their toys and board games, to Drew emptying the pots
and pans from the cabinets, from Jill with her arts and crafts, to me and my
books. These things in our way, these
things we bump into, and step on, and have to move around are the visible
reminders of how much we have been blessed and our calling as parents.
But there
comes a time when we need to put things up and get them out of our way. After a while, having
things constantly in our way gets rather tedious and at times frustrating. We as a people really don’t like having
things in our way, those things that impede our movement from one place to the
next. We like to be able to move freely
without anything holding us up, or causing us to move in an alternate direction
from what we are accustomed to.
There are plenty of things that
get in our way that we would just as soon not have to deal with – traffic, slow
drivers, stop lights; life’s challenges and disappointments; other ideas, other
agendas, other beliefs…certain people.
Our tendency as human beings is to move those things that we might bump into,
or step on, or have to move around, those things in our way, out of our way in
order to make life easier and simpler to traverse, especially if we see those
things as a source of contention to or intrusion into our perceived
individualistic right to do as we want to do and to be who we want to be. And so we find ourselves straightening up our
room, putting things were they belong, out of the way of foot traffic, out of
our way so we don’t have to navigate around something that might hold us up, or
cause us to pause, or cause us to go in a different direction than what we want
to go.
Whenever I go
into a church, there are two things I look for.
The first is the Communion table.
I have never seen a small Communion table, so they are pretty easy to spot,
usually right in the center of the worship space adorned with the liturgical
color of the season or with candles. It
is great that the Communion table is so prominent in the sanctuary, in the
place where the Christian community comes to worship. It is the reminder of so many important
things for us believers. It reminds us
of our call to fellowship. It reminds us
that through it we are given a glimpse of the heavenly banquet that awaits all
of us. It reminds us that we belong
together as one with God and with one another.
And most importantly, it reminds us of Christ’s act in giving his body
and his blood on the cross, and his promise that when we join together around
the table he is present with us.
The second
thing I look for is the baptismal font.
They are a little harder to spot, because they are smaller. But the interesting thing is that they are
not always prominent in the worship space.
Sometimes you have to really look for it to find it. Take our baptismal font. Most of the time, like now, it is put out of
our way over against the organ. One of
the funniest things that happens sometimes on Sunday mornings are the times
when I will come in before worship and move the font more toward the center,
and then when I come out with the choir to start the service, the font will
mysteriously be back over against the organ.
Sometimes when I move the font, someone will say, “Is someone getting
baptized?” and I will say “No.” And the
person will look at me with an expression that says, “Well, what are you doing
then?” The fact is that the baptismal
font deserves a central spot in our worship space as does the Communion
Table. It is meant to be seen whether we
are doing a baptism or not, because baptism is just as significant for us as a
community as is the Communion.
In the first
century churches, which at that time where not formal sanctuaries like we have
today, but were in people homes, the most prominent fixture was not the pulpit,
they didn’t have one, nor the Communion table, the most prominent fixture was
the baptismal font. And do you know
where it was? It was at the entrance of
the worship space in the house church. Right by the front door.
And do you know why it was at the entrance to the worship space? So that people would remember their
baptism. So that people would have to
walk around it, and bump into it, and remember that they were different people
because of it, a different people with a new identity, a new name, a new life. The Baptismal font is the one thing that we
should always keep in our way, as a reminder of who God says we are, as a
reminder of the blessings and calling we have been given through the gift of
the Holy Spirit, as a reminder that it is the beginning of our walk with God
not its conclusion.
Baptism is the visible sign of
God’s invisible grace, the visible sign that we, not just you and not just me,
but we as God’s people, we as the Church of Jesus Christ, we as Christ’s very
body, connected and united with Christ and one another, one with Christ in his
ministry and mission, are to be a living and active family of God, a family in
constant motion and activity, energy and vigor.
We can no more move the Baptismal font, or
Baptism out of our way, than Jesus could move Baptism out of his way. Just as Jesus’ baptism marked the boundary,
the divide between his private life as a carpenter in an obscure, little town,
and his very public ministry and mission, his service and sacrifice, his death
and resurrection, so it does the same for us.
Just as Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his work in the world, so it
is the same for us. Just as Jesus’
baptism was the visible setting for the revelation about who he is and to whom
he belongs, so it is the same for us.
Baptism is not the Church’s gift
to people; it is God’s gift to the Church.
It is God’s gift of grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom we
are empowered for our journey of faith that has been prepared and laid out
before us through the waters of baptism, so that we, as the Apostle Paul writes,
“might walk in newness of life…no longer enslaved to sin…[but]
alive to God in Christ Jesus…presenting ourselves to God as instruments of
righteousness.” There may be many things
in life that we need to move out of our way, but Baptism is not one of them. Baptism should always be in our way. It should always be something that holds us
up, causes us to pause, making us go in a different direction and calling us to
be different people. It should always be
something that we have to not just move around, but most importantly, move
through, not just today, but everyday, as a reminder that it’s life-giving and
life-renewing waters are as relevant for our lives of faith today as it was
when we first went through it.
As we
remember the Lord’s baptism, and reaffirm our baptismal covenant, and renew our
commitment as Jesus’ disciples, let us give thanks and praise for this gift of
grace. Let us give thanks and praise to
the God of our salvation, that he has claimed us as his own and called us to be
his people. And as we do, let us always
be sure to keep Baptism and the Baptismal font in a prominent place in our
lives and in our worship space.
Even though it may be in our way, and we may bump into it,
step on it with bare feet, or kick it across the room, because we cannot see,
through it God has promised to illuminate our path and guide us in the way, the
truth, and the life by the light of the one who is the very Son and Beloved of
God, Jesus Christ. Amen.