Wells Cathedral Sermon 11th January 2015 – Revd Canon Dr Graham Dodds
This week I was pleased to be working with a group of first year curates for a day. The day was entitled: A theology of Church: Ministry, Mission and Ecclesiology. It sounds rather grand doesn’t it! We began by asking the question ‘If you encountered someone in the street who said to you,‘I’m thinking of going to Church, what’s it like?’ what would you say? In our discussion we touched on what might form a definition of church, which is not as easy as it may sound. Yet one title that emerged is ‘The Community of the Baptised’. For baptism deals with life and death and life beyond death; with forgiveness of sins; with being fulfilled as a person; with finding wholeness as well as holiness; and with the giving of the Spirit.
Yet we live in a controlling, competitive and violent world. And if we needed any convincing of that, this week has shown us in Paris just how violent and fearful life can be -and although much less publicised equally horrifically in Nigeria. And underneath the explicit violence of the week lies deep fear in society – fear of difference, fear of the future, fear of losing control, fear of death. And this makes the forming and sustaining of the community of the baptised even more crucial.
And so today we celebrate the Baptism of Christ and the Gospel of Mark outlines the event vividly. And as we read on in his gospel we find Christ immediately expelled into the wilderness where he is tested and sent into the world to exercise his ministry.
Baptism was for Jesus the empowering, the enabling, the explosion of God’s Holy Spirit. It was the beginning of his public ministry. And so it is for us, sending us into the world to be the people of God. Baptism releases us from the constraints of our starting blocks and launches us onto the track to run the great race. Baptism confers on us the blessing of God, the grace, thefavour to do great works in his name.
Many of us will not remember our baptism, we were probably too little to know what was happening to us. Apparently for me my baptism was noted particularly because it snowed in March when I was taken to church. And for many of us, although we might have been told the whats and the wherefores, the experience of baptism is clouded. For some who are baptised later in life with adult baptism, it is perhaps a more vivid and notable day in our experience. I have been privileged to baptise a few adults by total immersion when I was a rector in Bath. And each time it was a memorable event.
But it’s tempting to think of baptism as a one off – ticked the box – but actually it is an ongoing process in our journey. Whether we were baptised at 3 days, 3 months, 23 or 93, we still grow deeper and deeper into the baptismal blessings. This was made clear to me by a vicar in my students days.
You may remember the controversies of the 1960s, 70s & 80s concerning a second baptism. In our first reading today we heard of how Paul encounters those who have received John’s baptism and tells them of the baptism of the Spirit. Thispassage led to arguments in the 60s and 70s about whether or not someone should receivea second baptism,a baptism of the Holy Spirit,- the second blessing, as it was often put. And I remember Richard Bewes, the Rector of Emmanuel Northwood and then All Soul’s Langham Place in London saying he had been talking with someone who proudly, and rather arrogantly announced to him that they had received the second blessing, and he replied, ‘Oh dear, only two?’We need to be clear – there is one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the conferring of the Holy Spirit, but God’s blessings are multitudinous.
And this process of baptism, receiving God’s blessings, finding forgiveness, becoming whole and holy and embracing the Spirit, shapes us and moulds us in the image of God and the likeness of Christ. The Roman Catholic theologian Herbert McCabe once asserted: we are not just human beings, but human becomings.
So what is the essence of this Community of the Baptised?
John the Baptist gives us a clue as we hear his words. He says ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me, I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals’. It’s perhaps made clearer in John’s gospel where John the Baptist says that Jesus must increase, while he decreases. This sense of giving way to Christ is at the heart of the Community of the baptised and it means that we are called to help one another flourish in God, to increase in our experience of him.John Henry Newman spoke of enlarging the Christian heart – finding a greater capacity to receive and give God’s love.
In October last year I was given the sad but privileged opportunity to give a eulogy for my good friend and colleague, Dr Mervyn Davies. Mervyn and I formed a good friendship and through our work, we co-wrote a book entitled, ‘Leadership in the Church for a People of Hope’. It explored Newman’s theology of Church.
In that book we quote Cardinal Leo Suenens, a leading theologian in Vatican II. Suenens once said:
A true leader, ultimately responsible for the pastoral work of the locale, will find his place when he has succeeded in helping others find theirs.
And although he was speaking of leaders, I believe it to be true of all disciples, helping others find their place in God before we find our own.
We also speak in the book about the term ‘authority’. It is derived from a word that means ‘to increase’. The people who came to John gave him authority to baptise them – to increase their sense of God within them. When Jesus is baptised he is given authority in the Father’s words and the Spirit’s presence to enlarge the understanding of the world of who of God is. So we, who share Christ’s baptism, are given authority to increase God’s presence in the world.
In my training day we examined various views of mission from the New Testament. One passage led us to reflect on the yeast parable. And a member of the group held our imaginations as he described the awe he has each time he makes bread. The yeast seems so tiny in comparison with the dough – then in the oven the bread increases and expands enormously. He said it makes him think that even though he often feels he’s just hidden away doing small acts of ministry, if God chooses,God can make phenomenal things happen.
And this is enacted at baptisms of babies. I hold the baby in my arms and look at this tiny life and wonder,‘What will you become?’ But I also bear in mind the parents who will need to help the baby increase in health and learning and personality and so on as she or he find their place in the world. To face the challenges of helping others, whether our own flesh and blood or our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world we need the encouragement of the family, that is a privilege of being part of the community of the baptised.
The baptismal service says many things. Two parts of it give both a sense of privilege and challenge. At one point the priest says:
God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has given us a place with the saints in light.
You have received the light of Christ;
walk in this light all the days of your life.
Our place is with God in the light, and that is a place of awesome wonder, a place of blessing, privilege, grace and favour. But the priest also says:
In baptism God invites you on a life-long journey.
Together with all God’s people
you must explore the way of Jesus
and grow in friendship with God,
in love for his people,
and in serving others.
In serving others. In baptism we have both a community who loves us, the community of the baptised, and also a community to serve, the community of the world.
And so because of our place in the communitywe are servants in ministry, and that means seeking the wellbeing of others before ourselves. If this is true for us as individuals then it certainly needs to be reflected in our church life.
Timothy Radcliffe the Roman Catholic lecturer and author, writes the following in his brilliant book on baptism ‘Take the Plunge’:
Churches often bestow extraordinary titles in high-ranking clergy. I have met Eminences, Beatitudes and Serenities! I would like to be Pope for just one day, to replace the title Monsignor (My Lord) with Your Servant.
And going back to our book Mervyn Davies and I wrote this:
Churches are often laid out so that the only people who have a definite place are the clergy, those performing the liturgical service. Laypeople may be very jealous of their place in the church literally or metaphorically. Who has a place in this church and who does not may be an important test of its inclusivity, its theology and understanding of Christian leadership and ministry.
I’m encouraged that there are clearly signs of health in the Cathedral with so many opportunities to serve God, God’s people and the world –as we provide places to deepen discipleship;to serve as volunteers; topursue issues like the ageing agenda or newspaper theology; as we provide space for young people in Wellsprings; as we visit local churches for evensong, and many other opportunities. But we must always be on our guard against complacency, clericalism, exclusivity and arrogance.
As I travel the diocese I see churches where clergy and laypeople work together to grow the kingdom as they welcome in those on the margins of society. They do not judge but gladly offer hospitality and are savvy to the sensitivities of such people. And I’ve been to places where I’ve seen the enormous sacrifice some people make to care for the vulnerable the disabled, and the disaffected,and to help them get to church.
And there are others whose ministry takes them to places beyond church walls; those whoprovide shelter for the homeless;care for young adults coming out of nightclubs in the middle of the night; nurture for young people in schools and colleges;respite and food for struggling families.
And there are yet others whorisk their lives serving in war-torn or disease-ridden countries abroad, or attempt to keep the doors open of a pressurised A&E department, or who counsel those who have lost their homes in floods or who speak out for justice in their local and wider settings or join the rallies for unity and justice such as that taking place in Paris today. They proclaim, through their deeds,their service to the world and yet more – they proclaim something of the yearning for transformation.
What God did in the baptism of Jesus was to herald the transformation of his world. And we are called through our baptism to join in this transformation. It may seem a big challenge, indeed it is a huge challenge, but remember the yeast and the Community of the Baptised.
In baptism God invites you on a life-long journey.
Together with all God’s people
you must explore the way of Jesus
and grow in friendship with God,
in love for his people,
and in serving others.
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