2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it out goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Let us pray, 

Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own, that, hearing, we may also obey your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today I got to do my first baptism since the world fell apart last May. So this week I’ve been thinking a lot about baptism. I’ve been reflecting on my own baptism. And also the role of baptism in the life of the faith community.

I was not baptized in the Presbyterian tradition. I was baptized as an eight week old infant. In the narthex of St. Michael’s Orthodox church. To symbolize that I was not yet a member of the church. Father Patrick dunked me in the baptismal font in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

He then anointed me with oil and walked me around the church to show off the newest member of the church. When I asked my mom what she remembered about my baptism, she said what she remembers about it was that there were a lot of rules and the service was very long.

Growing up in both the Orthodox tradition, it was clear to me from a young age what was expected of me. I was to go to mass every week. So one day I would grow up, get married, and make my children go to mass every week. But also from a young age, I felt God had other plans for me. Those plans lead me to the Presbyterian church as a young adult. And eventually to seminary and parish ministry.

Right after I started pastoring, I got a letter in the mail from St. Michaels. The letter was to let me know that Father Patrick had passed away. And invited me, a faithful and active member of St. Michael’s to attend his funeral. I was taken aback. I loved Father Patrick and of course would go to his funeral. But how on earth was I still considered an active member of St. Michaels?! I hadn’t attended mass there in a good seven years. Also I was pastoring a church in the Presbyterian denomination, and the Orthodox tradition doesn’t ordain women. What was going on here?

At Father Patrick’s funeral, I sought out the choir director to see if he knew what was going on. Because choir directors always know what’s going on. And sure enough he did. The choir director told me that my great uncle continued to pay my dues every year to keep me on the roles at St. Michaels. Even though I no longer attended church there. Even though I took ordination vows in another denomination. In the eyes of St. Michael’s, I was still one of them.

I wonder if I asked a Christian why the church baptizes people? They might say we baptize babies so they grow up and join the church. While we’re delighted when that happens. Baptism is more about marking someone as a child called and claimed by God. The reason we celebrate baptisms in the context of worship is because we believe that a person cannot live as a child of God on their own. Just as it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a church to raise a Christian.

I chose to preach on this passage from Second Corinthians this morning because it encourages us to look for the new things God is doing in our midst. And it challenges us to get onboard. 

The new thing that God is doing in the midst of the church in Corinth is teaching them to live by faith and not by sight. Remember this church is basically a new worshipping community. They’re used to doing everything the pastor tells them to do. And their pastor, Paul, is in Ephesus, planting a new church. Paul encourages them not to worry. God’s grace is sufficient for them to live by faith.

The other new thing God is doing in the midst of the church in Corinth. Is to offer them words of hope. That Christian life isn’t just waiting for a future reality. Christian life is actively participating in the kingdom of God in the here and the now.

One way that the church now actively participates in the kingdom of God in the here and now is through the sacrament of baptism. When the church gathers to administer the sacrament. We affirm a call in the present to raise a child in the Christian faith. But we’re also planting seeds for a future we have little control over. Not every baptized child will grow up to serve on the Session of the church that baptized them. But every baptized child is called to figure out where God is calling them to put down roots. 

This past week I had coffee with a campus minister. He was one of my youth group kids when I did campus ministry. Well, I probably shouldn’t call him a kid. Cause he’s now in his mid-twenties. And he’s taller than me now. Anyway, he was sharing with me how the organization has changed since I was on staff. When I was on staff, the goal of campus ministry was to get people to join the church that sponsored the ministry. Now the goal is to help college students figure out what type of faith community God is calling them to. And help them transition to that community well. 

When this organization surveyed their alumni. They found that alums were still doing the things they did in college to sustain their life of faith. They were going to church. Praying regularly. Giving back to their communities. But they were doing it all over the country as they moved for work and family. So the organization pivoted their focus. From getting people to join the organization.

To helping people, discern how God was calling them to grow in their discipleship. Or, as we Presbyterians say, helping them live into their baptismal identity.

Friends, every time we do a baptism in one of our churches, everyone gets really excited. I wonder what would happen if instead of getting excited that a new family is going to join our church. We get excited that God is inviting us to do a new thing. To help a new family raise a child in the way of Jesus. In this time. And in this place. Knowing as we baptize the child that we have no idea what church life is going to look like when this child graduates from high school. Or college. Or maybe has a family of her own. But we know that we want to walk alongside them as they and as we figure it out.

Paul ends this portion of his letter to the church in Corinth with this exultation:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

What Paul is saying here is that death is necessary for new life to emerge. Yes, dying to the old is painful. But we are called to surrender to being made new. For me that means having a deep appreciation for the Orthodox tradition that formed me in the ways of Jesus. But following God’s call into a different denomination. For you that may mean learning how to use technology to build relationships with your family and neighbors. For others it may mean beginning a process of discerning anew who you are, and what God is calling you to. 

I know that this sounds like not good news. There is comfort in the old and familiar and the new is uncertain and scary. But, and this is an important but. The old has actually already gone and the new is actually already here. So it’s not a question of do we want to let go of the old and embrace the new. No the new is already here.

And we are capable of embracing the new because we too are in Christ. Remember Paul writes as one who transformed from a persecutor of the church to a servant of the gospel.

Because Paul experienced the unsurpassable love of Christ.

Having experienced the unsurpassable love of Christ ourselves.

Let us go out into the world. Proclaiming with joy. In word and in deed. We live by faith. And not by sight.

Thanks be to God, 

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.