Baptized for What?

by The Rev. Dr. John D. Lane

Baptized for What?

This sermon is based on Luke 3:16.


John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Two weeks ago, I was sitting here at the 8:45 Eucharist, where the sermon time was given over to a very interesting discussion. We were focused on the Prologue to John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word ...” Speaking of the Word, thirty years ago a book called The Reader’s Digest Bible was published. The effort by one of the world’s most-respected biblical scholars, Bruce Metzger, was to edit and shorten The Holy Bible, in hopes that more people would read it. All these years later, I remember the start of one book review: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was too long.” First paragraph of this sermon and I’m already off topic.

Today is the feast of the Baptism of Christ. Most of us have been baptized. I was baptized privately at Trinity Church-Princeton when I was a little baby. The baptismal party consisting of my parents, my two sisters, and several aunts and uncles, three of them godparents, gathered after the late service. The baptistry was a separate room which nobody entered at other times. One sister and I are the only living witnesses to this event. Now, we celebrate most baptisms publicly, and we renew our own vows at the same time, with a multitude of witnesses, a great improvement in my opinion. Baptism is about all of us, not just the one being baptized.

Most of us here have been baptized. Most of us don’t remember the ceremony because we were very young at the time. Yet we still know that we were baptized. Holy Baptism is the rite that makes us Christians, followers of Christ. What difference does this make to me and you, that we are baptized Christians? A question worth pondering.

“I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Baptism is a moment. A wedding is a moment. Ordination is a moment. Confirmation is a moment. But all of these moments lead to a journey. After Baptism we grow in faith. After a wedding the journey of a lifetime together begins. After Ordination clergy embark on a journey that will carry us we know not where–maybe even Staunton. Who knew? I certainly didn’t, though it’s been a very fulfilling place for me. After Confirmation we take more personal responsibility for our faith and the Church. We know that even good marriages have their rough spots. So does the life of faith. “I believe, O Lord; help thou my unbelief.”

E-piphany is the season of another E-word, the one that terrifies E-piscopalians: E-vangelism. This is the time to concentrate on developing our faith and sharing it with others. Being an evangelist doesn’t usually mean preaching at other people, but being ready to tell the story of our faith when we have a chance. As Saint Francis put it, “Preach constantly; if necessary, use words.” He was definitely talking to every Christian, not just clergy.

Mormons are particularly committed to evangelism, and they take literally the biblical injunction to go out “two by two.” I laud their practice of spending two years as a missionary, though I don’t buy their message. Twenty years ago, I actually let a couple of Mormon missionaries into my house. I was curious not about their message–I’d read a good deal about Mormonism–but how they

They asked me if I knew anything about their faith, and I said yes. I also told them that I was an Episcopal priest and unlikely to convert. I mentioned some of their specific doctrine, but they got out flip charts having nothing to do with my questions. Like Ol’ Man River they just kept rolling along. I’m pretty convinced nothing I could have said or done would have kept them from keepin’ on keepin’ on. Life is too short. I told them it was time to go.

To Episcopalians, evangelism is different from talking at other people. Effective evangelism involves a lot of listening. It’s a little bit like the woman who found herself at two dinner parties sitting next to  two different men. After the first dinner, she thought the man beside her was very interesting. After the second dinner, she thought that she must be very interesting. The second man encouraged her to talk about herself. He was charming.

I hope you will become more comfortable with evangelism, and actually practice it from time to time. Even if you never reach that point, there are some questions each of us needs to consider: As a baptized and active Christian, how am I different from others? How am I the same? How does my faith affect my life? Many of you have seen the movie The Godfather. ‘Godfather’ is, of course, a Christian term. Don Corleone has stood in this role at numerous baptisms. The movie moves back and forth between this role, the good things that the Don does, and the evil things he does. The message is that there is a huge disconnect between his Catholicism and his position as head of a Mafia family. He’s not the only person in today’s society who fails to connect an hour on Sunday morning with the rest of the week.

In a society which used to be nominally Christian, Christians are now in the minority. We lived in New Orleans which is listed as 80-85% Roman Catholic. Many of these ‘Catholics’ haven’t been inside a church in years, but they still consider themselves Catholic. The number of Episcopalians nationwide has declined also–from 3% to 2% of the population the last time I looked. Often we are told that the reason so many people have left is because of all our in-your-face decisions about race, gender, sexual preferences, etc. If people weren’t willing to work their way through these difficult topics, I think it’s ultimately their loss.

Paul has entrusted me to preach to you, this week and two weeks from now, so I don’t want to mess things up with what I say next, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m less interested in why the disaffected left, and much more interested in why each of you stayed and, just as much, why there are so many new faces here in the 5 years since I retired. Why are you still here? Why have you been attracted to Trinity? What does your faith mean to you? The Episcopal Church is better at questions than answers. The good news is that they tend to be important questions, things that we need to wrestle with not only individually, but corporately. I’ve been an Episcopalian for 68 years–given my mother’s proclivities, probably even longer. I consider this a blessing, even though it hasn’t always been an easy road. My prayer is that each of you will find your faith influencing the rest of your life on a daily basis, while still realizing that all of life, even faith, is a journey. It’s full of ups and downs. Why are you here today? Answer that.

I want to leave you with a final story, which might be about ineffective evangelism, not about careful listening. Ponder what you can learn from it. I don’t intend to explain it.

The Bishop of Kansas tells of a former parishioner who had done well in business and then retired. His passion was exotic travel, and he found himself sitting next to a stranger on an airplane. He couldn’t wait to tell him about all the places he’d been and the adventures he’d had. “I’ve traveled to several African countries and photographed an amazing array of animals. I went to Nepal and trekked and climbed in the Himalayas. I sailed to Antarctica, saw many varieties of penguins, and came back around Cape Horn, just like Magellan!” The man went on for a good while the other man politely listened. As they were leaving the plane he introduced himself to his seat-mate, who replied, “Pleased to meet you and hear your stories. I’m Neil Armstrong.”