The Reverend Paul DeLain Allick, St. George’s Episcopal Church, April 3, 2010

 

The first time I became a Godfather was all because of a skunk. I was about 7 years old and my baby brother was getting baptized. My older brother who was 14 was supposed to be his Godfather but he had gone out hunting earlier that day and was sprayed by a skunk. My mom wouldn’t let him go to the Church so I had to stand in.

 

 

I was in no way prepared to be a Godfather and neither was my big brother. And as I remember, our family seldom went to Church. So my baby brother was being baptized into something that none of us were going to follow through on.

 

 

It wouldn’t be until I was well into my twenties that I would begin to learn what baptism was all about. Until then I believed that baptism was what you did so that babies wouldn’t go to hell. It had nothing to do with discipleship; it was an insurance policy for the soul.

 

 

Today of all days in the Church year we remember our baptism. The renewal of our Baptismal Covenant is at the heart of this Easter Vigil Liturgy.

 

 

All of the stories of redemption that we have heard tonight are  metaphors of what occurs in our baptism. They are our stories of sin and redemption. We are created by God and then walk away from Him. God reaches out to us; He re-establishes a relationship with us. In that relationship, like Abraham, we are called to trust in God no matter what He asks of us. We learn to trust and then walk away again. We wander in the wilderness until God us redeems us through water and spirit. Then a new heart is put within us. We rise out of our tombs and begin to live the abundant life God has given us.

 

 

 

 

 

Baptism is more than the blessing of an infant. Baptizing infants is an exception. We do it only under the agreement that the parents will raise the child in the faith. The directions in the Prayer Book read,”those who cannot answer for themselves are presented by Godparents and parents who vow to bring the child up in the full knowledge of their Covenant with God and their bond to the New Community.” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 301)

 

 

Our Baptism is our ordination into the royal priesthood established by God in Christ. Baptism is about discipleship not merely membership. Discipleship calls us into transformation through constant prayer and study. Members of clubs participate as it is convenient. Disciples make the faith community the center of their lives.

 

 

We renew our Covenant to get in touch again with our mission. Our mission is about being and doing: we become the priesthood of all believers in what we believe and what we do.

 

 

In our being, we affirm our belief in the tenets of the Creeds. We renounce Satan and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We walk away from all of the egotism of life and are reborn into the humility of Christ.

 

 

Who we become is then reflected in what we do. We continue in the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. We do this by attending to our religious obligations in the liturgies and other circles of discipleship within the faith community. We resist evil and practice repentance on a regular basis. We  proclaim by word and example the Good News of Christ. (As St. Francis said, “Proclaim the Gospel everywhere, and if necessary, use words.”) We seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for peace and justice. This isn’t a political/ideological statement, it means that no matter your secular political inclinations you will do right by others and seek the common good.

 

 

It is only through the grace of God that we can live all of this out. That is why when we make these vows of our ordination we say that we will do it all with God’s help.

 

 

 

 

We Anglicans believe in something called “Baptismal Regeneration.”

 

In our Baptism we are not only signified as Christians, that is claiming our membership in the club, but God begins to work in us the righteousness we have pledged to pursue. We are ordained to our ministry. We believe that all Sacraments are not simply ceremonies to signify an outward sign. When we receive them God begins in us an inward work of grace.  (Articles of Religion #27, #5, Book of Common Prayer, pp.872-73)

 

 

We will spend our life depending on the grace of God to live into this ordination. We will need others to help us. Indeed in Baptism the whole community of faith pledges to help the newly baptized live out their ordination. This is why we no longer practice private baptism. The whole community must be present to make the vows.

 

 

We are a regenerate people. We have been redeemed by water and spirit. We live out our baptismal ordination not to find favor with God but to thank Him