3rd Sunday After Pentecost (Year A) June 25, 2017
Romans 6:1-11 Panzer Military Chapel, Stuttgart
Claiming Christ, Living Christ – Everyday
I have this seminary friend who tells the story of going to his first field education church in rural North Carolina. As it often happened, the arrival of the Duke Divinity School intern usually meant that the appointed minister took a couple of weeks off after Annual Conference. So, on his first Sunday, the pastor introduced him to the congregation and split for the beach immediately after the recessional hymn. Unfortunately, my friend had some questions, so when he got to the church the next morning he asked the church secretary if she could help clear some things up. She was a fountain of information, except for one question: why does the congregation turn and face the back of the sanctuary for the Apostle’s Creed? Her answer, I’m a Baptist – I don’t know anything about creeds. But I know who does.
So that afternoon he visited the local retirement center to find a long-time member and surviving Methodist minister’s spouse. When he tracked her down and gotten thru all of the introductions, he could finally ask the question on his mind. Why does the congregation face the back of the church when they say the Apostle’s Creed? Oh, easy, she said. About 30 years ago the words to the Creed and the Ten Commandments were painted in calligraphy on the back wall of the sanctuary. People got into the habit of turning around to read the words and when they painted the sanctuary the last time, they covered it up and hung some nice pictures. By then, turning around was second nature, and nobody ever thought twice about why.
What does it mean to be a Christian? Ask the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 and you’ll get the Nicene Creed... a foundational document which lays out what Christians believe about who God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, and the basic beliefs we hold as the church. Of course, with the split between the Orthodox and Roman Churches in 1059 and the Reformation of the 16th century changed all of that. The Creed was no longer the foundation of church theology or the definition of what it means to be Christian.
Ask 100 Christians today what it means to be Christian and you’ll get 100 answers. But I still think it’s a good question, not just as an intellectual exercise, but also to see how we are measuring up to life in Christ.
This passage from Romans is the perfect place to reflect today. Paul’s letters are usually written to give encouragement and instruction to people in matters of faith. As the Christian Church began to grow and expand, the message of the gospel often took on the character of the one proclaiming the word. As people heard the message and accepted it for themselves, they passed it on to others. But it’s difficult to incorporate to total Christian experience in a simple message, so often some things were emphasized over others. Paul’s letters weren’t written as foundational or theological documents. They were letters from a pastor and teacher to his students and friends, encouraging them to keep their eye on the real prize.
Today’s lesson focuses on life after baptism. What is our life in Christ supposed to look like if we remember our baptisms every day? Now I am sure that many of us do not remember our baptisms, because they happened when we were very young. But “remember your baptism” is not about memory of the event itself. It is about acknowledging the responsibilities that come with baptism. It is about rejecting or dying to sin every day, and picking up the promise of eternal life and using it as a guide in every decision we make. It is a way of saying: Remember who you are; you have died to sin and now you live a new life in Jesus Christ. It is a way of saying: Be who you are.[i]
The process for becoming a Christian is simple and difficult, at the same time. In my United Methodist tradition, we talk about three areas of grace which define a life of faith. First comes prevenient or covenant grace. It means that there is never a time when God does not love us. "Prevenient" comes from the Latin word which means "to come before." “Covenant” helps us remember the promise that God made to Abraham that all who follow will be connected to God by love and relationship. This means that before we do or say anything, God loves us. Prevenient grace leads us to long for God, and to want and need God to be a part of our lives. Because of covenant grace, we want to be one with God, and we are moved to repent or ask for forgiveness for our sins. Baptism helps us to affirm this prevenient or covenant grace because God takes the initiative and calls us to become a part of God's people.
Repentance or saying we’re sorry is our response to God's love and leads to justifying grace. The word "justification" is a legal term which means "to prove right or to free from blame." In God's eyes, we are all guilty of sin and deserve punishment. But in a great outpouring of love, God forgives us and treats us as if we were not guilty. Baptism is a sacrament of justification and pardon, of dying and rising with Christ for all people, for both infants and adults.
Sanctifying grace is the gift of God's love that calls us and helps us grow in Christian faith and life. God calls us to turn our lives toward him, loving God and our neighbors in all that we do and say. Baptism marks the beginning of a lifelong journey with Christ. Sharing the bread and wine each week at a common table is one way in which we are fed and taught to be the united body of Christ.
This part of Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that we can’t get stuck in the justifying grace part of our journey. God’s forgiveness and our salvation do come at a cost. It’s not that we are working our way into heaven, it’s that our works – our love of Christ and his creations – are our response to the amazing gift that we have been given.
Most Christian traditions recognize three methods of baptism. Each has its own symbolic nature. Old Testament reading talks about sprinkling as a means of cleansing and purifying. In baptism, the water is an outward sign of God’s grace, which cleanses the heart of the baptized person. Sometimes people are baptized using the pouring method, reminding us that the “Holy Spirit has been poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 2:5-7).
Paul’s commentary today helps us to understand why baptism by immersion holds such a powerful message. When someone is baptized by immersion, he or she is completely submerged in water and then lifted out of the water. Paul says that we who are baptized into Christ have been buried with him into death so that we can be raised with him into new life. Baptism by immersion is an outward sign of dying and being raised with Christ.
Therefore, baptism has the power to cleanse us, pour on us the Holy Spirit, and assist us in dying to sin and being raised to new life. Theologically, Paul’s view on baptism is that it is the beginning of a journey or process and that its effects are not only for a moment but for an entire life. Believers must understand that the baptism Paul is talking about in Romans 6 does not just wash away the stains of sin, but rather, it is a participation in the death of Jesus Christ and an anticipation of his resurrection. This means that belief in Christ requires us to anticipate and participate in an embodied resurrection life.[ii]
You’d be surprised at the number of people who want the baptisms of their children to be a private event… as a cultural or familial celebration when it is a communal event, incorporation into the body of Christ. We don’t often recognize that our life in Christ may, in fact, draw us away (or even in opposition) to our families, as Jesus talks about in the Gospel reading (Matthew 10:34-38).
Baptism and salvation are not a universal hedge of protection from pain or suffering. Some traditions talk about having a personal relationship Christ, but the Jesus we see in the gospels and the one Paul talks about in Romans is not the Jesus who meets us for coffee and tells us that everything is going to be okay. No, he is the one who calls us to follow him into crucifixion, knowing that resurrection is waiting on the other side.[iii] Safe – no; life-changing – in more ways than we can imagine.
So, what does this lesson about life in Christ mean for us today?
There is a lot of turmoil in the world right now. And I am saddened and angered that people who claim to follow Christ act in conflict with the life Paul is calling us to live. People tell me that preaching shouldn’t be political, so I wonder that if I’m willing to accept that premise, then what am I supposed to do to battle the injustices and hate that I see, often not propagated by people outside of the Church, but by those of us who claim to be on the inside? What am I supposed to say when people are belittled for being a different race, religion, or educational or economic status, thought of as less than by those who claim power and use privilege like a weapon?
I’m not going to leave you with a heartwarming story today, but with the questions that I ponder every day, especially these days.
· Is a life of faith in Jesus Christ about what I believe or how I behave?
· When people hear me describe myself as a Christian are they comforted or appalled?
· Is my silence about injustice seen as a quiet acceptance of the status quo?
· Am I more worried about what people will think of me if I speak out that if I don’t?
· How will I be judged in the end, not just for the sins I have committed, but for the ones I never spoke out against?
I’ll be honest, it keeps me up at night, worrying and praying for an answer on what I’m supposed to do next.
German pastor Martin Niemöller was an outspoken foe of the Nazi Regime and spent seven years in a prison camp. He is most famous for the following quote, which gives me a little clue about what my faith journey requires of me…
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.[iv]
I don’t think we want that to be our legacy… no, claiming Christ must mean living Christ, every single day.
Peace, Deb
[i] David Bartlet, Commentary on Romans 6:1b-11, Preach This Week, June 22, 2008, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=66
[ii] Israel Kamudzandu, Commentary on Romans 6:1b-11, Preach This Week, June 22, 2014, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2052
[iii] Pulpit Fiction Podcast, June 25, 2017, https://www.pulpitfiction.com/notes/proper7a
[iv] Martin Niemoller, Article from Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392
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