Fourth Sunday of Eastertide
Rev Helen Wallis
The Sermon - Fourth Sunday of Eastertide and the Baptism of Hazel Grace Barnes at St Stephens Anglican Church
It was 1944 and at 3 years old and like Jesse here today...
I was used to going to church I was wearing a brand new cherry red jersey that my mother had knitted to go with the little red kilt that which I guess because of rationing she had it made out of my father’s tartan scarf
Some years ago when I was sorting through my late things I found the tartan, which had been long since unpicked from being my little kilt, and recycled once more as the scarf.
At the time I needed a tartan stole for a special scottish occasion so I made the old scarf into this stole
The colours tell the story of the gospel
Red - for the blood of Christ,
Yellow - for the precious gold of the Word of God
White - for the bread of life, and
Green - for the environment,
clearly referenced in the Liturgy we are using today. I’m wearing that stole today symbolic of the generations of people such as members of the Barnes French and Kingsbury Families who have walked the path of faith beginning with BAPTISM “woven” warp and weft together as it were, into t the fabric of the Christian faith by baptism and commitment adults and children alike...
Jesus said....Let the children come to me and do not stop them.
The specialness of Baptism in these days of increasing secularisation, arises from the fact that relatively few people seek the Sacrament of baptism for their children or themselves as an act of faith.
So opportunities to participate and celebrate at at Baptism are relatively rare and even more special because the Sacrament of baptism is a singular priceless unrepeatable gift of God’s grace The first Baptsim I attended was that of my baby sister.
Like Jesse Barnes, I was a three year old, and eager to help. but for years after I was told the story that when the priest took my Sister into his arms and held her over the font, I thought he was going to dunk her in it cloths I tried to stop him because I thought he was going to dunk her in the font.. clothes and all.
I guess that many families have stories around the baptism of children and their connectedness to the church or not.
Recently I watched the documentary called “Nurses down under“ and having been a Midwife in the past, I was reminded of the most powerful moment at the birth of a child.. that moment when the physical connectedness with a birth mother is severed by cutting the umbilical cord...
A simple snip, but a significant reminder that we are born CONNECTED to our mothers.
And since today is Mother’s Day, it is a good day as any to think about that primary connection that we had with our mothers
For some of us, that connection conjures up memories of wonderful love and care, warmth and support, a special fondness that late over the years.
While the physical cord was cut at birth, we remained CONNECTED to our mothers through the years and many of us celebrate a love that inspired us to love, the kind of care that has led us to care. and so we can give thanks to God for a mother’s love.
But for some of us the reality may be that our relationships over the years may have become difficult or even impossible.,
The original umbilical connection between birth mother and child does not always indicate genuine or healthy connections as the years roll by.
Jesus too, the beloved son of God fully divine and fully human being, born of Mary, his mother knew about connectedness and the struggles of human relationship.
This is a reminder of how CONNECTED he is to us as the living Lord, and how he knows us, understands us and our struggles and needs.
Although the readings today are not about the umbilical connection we all have had with our mothers, the readings are never the less very big on being CONNECTED personally to God.
I don’t think that there is any more familiar passage for us than Psalm 23 which offers evidence that life is best lived CONNECTED – to God, to one another, and to the world. 422
We live in a fast-paced world of smart-phones and email, of genetic modelling and life extending health schemes of Invitro fertilisation, the possibility of euthanasia of complicated and busy lives on a crowded and environmentally challenged planet, and ever changing law and order,
Yet in one sentence in the gospel today, we are transported to a Palestinian hillside half a world away and three thousand years ago listening to the Psalmist words..
Words that have been affirmed and spoken across all those miles and the centuries for us to celebrate how deeply we are CONNECTED to God.
Psalm 23 is so familiar, such a favourite of all time, and mostly because these brief words affirm for us that God is good and present; life is good and beautiful and filled with love. and the words of the Psalm offer us something akin to warm fuzzies..
But this is not just hopeful, Pollyanna religious-talk. In the exact centre of this psalm about the Shepherd and God’s presence and care, we are introduced to “the shadow.”
The “shadow” represents all the real life stuff that threatens to blot out the good, the merciful, and the beautiful presence and care of the Shepherd - God.
In verse 4, we read,
“Even though I walk through the “SHADOW of death”
I fear no evil, for You are with me.”
Our lives are lived in the company of both the Shepherd and the shadow and through it all – it is our CONNECTEDNESS to God that really matter matters and makes a difference. But, as we have faced worries and responsibilities, covid and news of increasing crime, international strife and warfare along with the frustrations and heartaches in our daily lives our roles and even the focus of our memories of our parents are changed.
We are people who seek to live and love and serve in the world. We all work in some way to strive to help others, to make the world a better place.
But all too often, the burdens, the schedules, the exhaustion, the demands of daily life through this pandemic era, and the changes that come our way may have worn us down.
We are people in relationships, some of them healthy and life-giving, . . .others are broken. and seemingly beyond human repair..We all carry both joys and wounds from the past, and we maintain expectations and uncertainties about the future.
From time to time all of this can make us feel disCONNECTED, fragmented, and frazzled, and in facing those complexities of life it is all too easy to relegate God to the margins of our lives.
O yes...we ask God to show up at our baptisms, maybe at our weddings and on community occasions such as sports events national remembrances, and other cornerstone ceremonies –
Prayers are offered; karakia is performed the National anthem sung and God’s presence is invoked.
And then at our endings... at funerals when a life is honoured, there may be a moment of thankgiving as a token nod in the direction of God,
But how about the in-between times? How about the time of living between start and finish? God is at the first and the last, but what happens in the middle? Where’s the connection?
Psalm 23 affirms God as a Shepherd, as caring and present, as loving and serving, and as guiding and providing through allof life, even and through the shadows..
As we acknowledge and allow God into our lives, then like a shepherd, he guides us in our wanderings, and sustains us even in the darkest places we may face in our lives
This psalm is about how we are forever, deeply and wonderfully CONNECTED to God through all our lives . (see Peterson, Ibid, p. 103)
KarlBarth A noted theologian last century says:
Everything in our lives relates to God’s abiding care, God’s attention, and God’s love. The Lord is never absent, passive, or impotent, but always present, active, responsive, and omnipotent.
God is never dead, but always living, never sleeping, but always awake, and always concerned. (Church Dogmatiand cs, 3.3, p.13)).
As one theologidan commented...
With God, the bad thing is never the last thing. F. Beuchner) (With God, the shadows and darkness and death are never the last thing: God is with us; God’s rod and staff, they comforts us.
And all of this plays out in this lovely psalm. Nothing abstract. Nothing in general but vividly specific:
green pastures, still waters, paths of righteousness valley, rod, staff, table, oil, cup, house.
Everything that is needful and everything that matters is included and in an intimate, caring, dependable way we are CONNECTED to God – the Shepherd.
God’s care includes protection and guidance, with grace and refuge offered for everything about our lives if we but let him..
The final sentence of Psalm 23 may be the one that speaks most clearly and powerfully to us today:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
May this be true for little Hazel who is to be baptised today and for all of us as we continue in daily life ..
– working for justice, embodying kindness
bringing healing and light though Christ
to the darkness of the world
and in doing so, may we not only affirm.
but also live out our connectedness to God
as we live out our promises made today
to share our faith and love
with Hazel, and with Jesse as the years roll by.
Today we gathered here as a mixture of generations for what is sacred time for us all as we witness and celebrate the Baptism of Hazel
We acknowledge her potential as if a Bud of hope within the wood a phrase comes from the New Zealand Hymn writer -
Shirley Murray’s
Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we dwell in the house of the house of the Lord forever. AMEN 1639
Prayer of Commitment:
We believe, dear, Shepherding God;
help our unbelief, and keep shaping us
for faithful life and work following Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let’s celebrate as we sing Shirley Murray’s hymn now
as we prepare for the baptism at the font at the entrance of the church
Celebrate each generation!
Celebrate around the earth!
In this Church make dedication
of the miracle of birth.
Every new born son and daughter
Is the Church’s loving claim,
Marked by touch of living water-
now to take the Christian name
Be the Christ in those we baptise:
body, spirit, both must thrive.
Be the Christ in us who promise-
new born faith to keep alive !
So another generation
may discover truth and good,
flower within the certain future,
bud of hope within the wood