Preached on the occasion of the Baptism of my granddaughter, Caitlin Sara Creevy.
+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Please turn to St. Paul’s letter to the Church in Philippi (Philippians 3:4b-14):
“If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh,”― that is, in external things― “I have more: circumcised on the eighth day,”― which for a Jewish male like Paul is literally a “reason to be confident in the flesh”― “a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;”― and the Pharisees were the fiercest guardians of the Law of Moses― “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
In other words, Paul had it all. He was born to the right parents who belonged to the right tribe; Paul’s parents followed the Law of Moses, and Paul followed the Law of Moses; and he demonstrated his devotion to the Law by joining the Pharisees and persecuting Christians― sometimes even to death; in fact, Paul witnessed the stoning death of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen.
Paul was also a good business man. We know this because he paid for his missionary trips throughout Asia and Europe by making scenery for the local theaters. And so, when Paul wanted to contrast his old life with his new life, he used the business terms of profit and loss:
“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.”
Paul the businessman, who knew how to draw up a financial profit and loss statement has drawn up a spiritual profit and loss statement, and everything he used to put in the profit column is now in the loss column, and in the profit column there’s only one entry: “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
About eight years ago I became the Dean of the Waukegan Deanery. And as the dean my title changed from “The Reverend” Bill Roberts to “The Very Reverend” So as my six year term as the dean drew to an end, I was already regretting and a little sad that I would no longer be “The Very Reverend.”
But then I went to Madagascar, and met Reverend Donné. He had founded four churches; his church and family had been robbed twice, and during the second robbery one of his sons had been shot and wounded. He lives, as almost everyone lives in Madagascar, in economic circumstances and living conditions that we would find almost unbearable, and yet his faith and work for the Gospel of Christ is incredible.
During our time together we became good friends, and on our last day he took off the cross that hung around his neck and gave it to me. After he left the room, Bishop Todd McGregor said to me, “Bill, you need to know that that was his only cross.” After knowing Reverend Donné, “The Very Reverend” went right into the loss side of my spiritual ledger.
For many years, Ingrid and I were members of the Third Order of the American Province of the Society of St. Francis. The First Order is comprised of Franciscan Friars and Sisters who live in community; the Second Order is comprised of enclosed Sisters; and the Third Order is comprised of men and women who live and work “in the world.” Once a year, on or near the Feast Day of St. Francis― October 4― Franciscans gather to renew their vows.
In 1984, Ingrid and I joined about a dozen Third Order Franciscans at a small church in New York City, St. Peter’s, Chelsea. As we gathered, we were joined by someone who was visiting New York at the time. Someone who also needed to renew his Third Order Franciscan vows. Someone who had just received the Nobel Prize for Peace. Someone Desmond Tutu. Now I can’t say what side of his spiritual profit and loss statement the Archbishop would place his Nobel Peace Prize, but that night he joined an unremarkable group of people who were trying to know Christ Jesus their Lord.
Paul continues: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Notice that “knowing Christ” means first of all knowing “the power of his resurrection,” and then, second, “sharing in his sufferings.” The order is crucial, because it is only by knowing the power of his resurrection in our lives that we have any hope of surviving when we share in his sufferings.
Only by knowing the power of his resurrection will we be able to forgive those who sin against us as Jesus forgave those who sinned against him.
Only by knowing the power of his resurrection will we have the courage to confront “the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God” as Jesus confronted them (Book of Common Prayer, p. 302).
And only by knowing the power of his resurrection will we have the compassion to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and welcome the stranger, as Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, and welcomed the stranger.
The goal of knowing Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and sharing in his sufferings, is nothing less than the goal of resurrection from the dead. But Paul takes nothing for granted:
“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
In just a moment Christ Jesus will make Caitlin his own, just as he made Paul his own, and just as he makes every one of us his own by Baptism.
“Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
At the very beginning of our service this morning, we said these words: “There is one hope in God’s call to us.” Our hope as Christians doesn’t rest in what we say, or how we worship, or what we do. Our hope rests in one thing: God’s call to us.
This morning God is calling Caitlin, just as God continues to call each one of us, to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and to share in his sufferings; and all for the sake of the world that God created, redeemed, and loves.
Thanks be to God.
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