Now I say all this for several reasons. One of them being that when I lead confirmation classes for youth, one of the first questions I ask is what does it mean to be a Christian? They will talk about things we might believe, or things we are supposed to do, or about going to church, sort of generic things. But, what they never say, until I get more direct, is that being a Christian means following Christ, or worshipping Christ, or proclaiming Christ as the Messiah, the son of the living God. We might think that’s sort of basic, of what it means to be a Christian and yet it doesn’t seem to be for many people. That when they answer the question about Christianity, following Christ is not the first answer given.
And so last winter when the One Board began discussing what
our core values were for this congregation, I was glad to see that being
Christ-centered was one that was quickly proclaimed. I do have to admit I did
some nudging there, but it was very slight. And, again, it might seem obvious
in saying that since we are a church that we are Christ-centered, but in my
experience that’s not the case. Because what core values say is that these are
the areas where we are not going to negotiate. When push comes to shove, or
when the going gets tough, and we might want to compromise on things, for
whatever the reason, these are going to be our non-negotiables. As the great
Jewish theologian Jon Stewart said, “If you don't stick to your values when
they are being tested, they're not values, they're hobbies.” These
are the rocks on which we are building our church, and it seems that being
Christ-centered has to be at the top of that list. And let me give just one
example of what a possible compromise might look like. When seeker sensitive
churches became a thing, many of them removed the cross from their sanctuary
because they said that non-churched people found it offensive, and so they
didn’t want it to be a stumbling block. And let me say I can hear their
concern, but I also hear Paul telling the Corinthians, telling us, that he came
amongst them to proclaim nothing else but Christ, and him crucified. And so I
would say that the cross seems really important as part of knowing Christ and
proclaiming Christ and being Christ-centered.
But, before we dig into that idea even more, let’s say each
of the values together, we are Christ-centered, prayerful, inclusive, growing
spiritually, caring and compassionate, and in service and mission. Now I think
you could put most of these in any order you wanted, but I do think that we
have to put Christ-centered first because all the rest of them flow out of the
fact that we follow Christ. Or we might say that all of the rest of them are
flavored by us being Christ-centered, or perhaps that is the adjective before
each of the other. Because Buddhists pray, so being prayerful is not just about
the prayer, but the nature of the prayer, and that is being Christ-centered.
And Unitarians do some great service work, but it’s not Christ-centered. That
is who we are as a people, and if we don’t do that well, then we can’t really
do anything else well. Now does this mean we reject anyone from entering the
church who says that they don’t believe in Jesus? No. but we don’t compromise
who we are simply to be open to others. After all, one of the baptismal
questions asks, and we’ll be asked this again later in worship, “Do you confess
Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to
serve him as your Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to
people of all ages, nations, and races?”
And so that leads into what makes us Christian. I know that
people are sometimes surprised when I say this, but no one is born a Christian.
In Judaism, you are a Jew because your mother was Jewish. My sister-in-law is
sort of a secular Jew, that is she doesn’t practice Judaism but has
self-identification as being Jewish because her parents were Jewish. That is
not true of Christianity. We become Christians not by a proclamation of faith
but by the waters of baptism. It is in the waters of baptism that we die to our
old self and we are reborn in Christ. We are made a new creation in Christ, as
Paul says, and we join the body of Christ, the church, and the community of
faith. And we do that because as we heard today, Jesus himself was baptized. In
the protestant tradition we have two sacraments, baptism and communion, because
they are the things in which Jesus not only participated but also called for us
to do as well.
And so John the Baptist is out in the wilderness baptizing
people. We don’t actually know what was taking place, in that we don’t know
exactly what the theology of the belief behind this practice that John was
doing was. And we can see from the passage from Acts that we heard this
morning, that there were a multiplicity of understandings about baptism that
were floating around, although the church is coming to an understanding of
being baptized into Christ, done in a Trinitarian formulation of Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. But Mark’s account is very brief, and simply tells us that
Jesus came to be baptized, but as he comes out of the water we are told that
the heavens are torn open and the Spirit descends upon him like a dove and a
voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased.’ But, even in that brevity, there is some important information for us
as we understand our own baptism and what it means to be Christ-centered.
That dove, the gift of the Spirit, is part of the call and a
mark of what Jesus’ ministry will be about, and notice that for Mark the
baptism is the beginning of his ministry, as there is only a brief three verses
before as an introduction, and so baptism is inherently linked to what Jesus
does. And, again, as we think about our other values flowing out of being
Christ-centered, we have to think that our being Christ-centered flowing out of
our baptism, and so our mission as Christians comes out of the waters. Again,
our very name as Christians comes out of baptism. And note that this is not a
private act. Jesus is surrounded by crowds. What Mark says is people from the
whole of the Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem, although that seems like
hyperbole to me, came out. Baptism takes place in public. We understand baptism
being an initiation into a community. That is the reason why we don’t do
private baptisms, except under extraordinary circumstances, primarily where
death may be imminent. But it’s that sense that we are not just baptized for
ourselves, but baptized into the body of Christ, into the community of Christ.
And so one of the things that it means for us to be Christ-centered
is to know and understand the importance of community. As John Wesley, the
founder of Methodism has said, there is no such thing as a solitary Christian.
The Christian life is found in the life of the community. And so being
Christ-centered has to understand and recognize and support and celebrate that
reality. That is not to say that there are not things we do as individuals, or
personal faith, but that we do this together, that we are all on this journey
together, and the journey is better when we do it together, and that journey
begins at the baptismal font.
Now the other thing that happens at the font is that we hear
the same thing from God that Jesus does, that we are God’s beloved children,
and that we are adopted by God in our baptism. Now adoption, as Paul talks
about it, and as it was understood in the ancient world, had nothing to do with
children having parents to care for them and raise them, as important as that
is. Instead it was all about inheritance, which is why Paul talks about being
heirs. Typically adoption was done by the wealthy families who did not have an
heir. They would adopt an heir out of another family, and the adoptee would take
that families name, and notice that we don’t talk about surnames during
baptisms. More importantly, if the new heir had debt from their prior family,
all of that debt would be wiped away. Let me say that again. When you were
adopted in the ancient world, all debt was wiped away; you come into the new
relationship free and clear. And the same thing happens to us in that in the
waters of baptism, we are forgiven not just for what we have done but for what
we have yet to do, not so we can do whatever, but so that we can understand the
power of repentance and the power of forgiveness. And so being a community that
is Christ-centered means that we are centered and focused on God’s grace and
mercy and we not only understand forgiveness, but that we live in forgiveness
as individuals and as a community. We seek to be agents of healing and
wholeness for ourselves and others.
Being Christ centered does not mean we know everything or
that we have our lives put all together. Instead it merely means that we are
willing to worship Jesus as Lord, as the Messiah, even if we doubt some, and
work to figure out the rest, with the power of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus
says the Spirit will come after him to give instruction and intercede on our
behalf. And we believe that the Holy Spirit comes upon us when we are baptized,
just as it did on Jesus. Which means that we can not only claim and live in the
power of the Spirit, but also the Spirit guides and leads us in doing the will
of God, indeed in knowing that will, including in helping us in know and
understand scripture, even if only in part. And so, since Jesus says that he
would not leave us alone, but would give us the Spirit to be with us, to be
Christ-centered also means living and moving in the Spirit.
And finally, although I don’t think this is at all
inclusive, being Christ-centered is about loyalty. For the past two weeks we’ve
heard something about worship, about worshipping in Spirit and truth, as Jesus
says to the Samaritan woman, and about the wise men who come to bow down and
worship. And worship literally means to bow down. It is to pledge allegiance
and loyalty, and as Jesus says, you cannot serve two masters, you cannot
worship multiple gods, you cannot have divided loyalty. And so being
Christ-centered means that we have full loyalty to Christ and Christ alone,
otherwise it’s like saying you’re a Yankee fan and yet still rooting for the
Red Sox. You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work. And so we put Christ before and
above all other loyalties, and if the other things we support are in alignment
with Christ then great, but if they are not then we have to side with Christ.
And if someone or someone want us to do something or believe something, we have
to ask if that is in alignment with Christ, and if it’s not then we have to
object. And the basic rule of alignment is whether it matches up with the
commandment to love God and love our neighbor.
Our journey in faith as Christians, as Christ-centered
people, as individuals and a community, begins with baptism. And so on this day
we are going to reaffirm our baptism, and if you don’t already have a small
amount of water available, I encourage you to do so, and just like last week
when prayed the Wesleyan covenantal prayer, I am going to ask you to stand as
you are comfortable as we reaffirm our vows before God and one another.
Pastor: Brothers and sisters in Christ: Through the
Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ's holy Church. We are
incorporated into God's mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through
water and the Spirit. All this is God's gift, offered to us without price.
Pastor: On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you: Do you
renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this
world, and repent of your sin?
People: I do.
Pastor: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to
resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present
themselves?
People: I do.
Pastor: Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your
whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with
the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?
People: I do.
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