We Are One at Baptism and the Table

It may sound funny to say that United Church of Christ is “one” in anything, but we really are united around the sacraments — as ways that we live our beliefs in worship.

What Matters? Part Three: We Are One at Baptism and the Table

Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 14:22-25 

What holds us together as members of the United Church of Christ – both in our local congregation and across the country – what holds us together is not theological uniformity or consistent practice. What holds us together is a kind of spiritual convergence

on what most matters to us. Out of all the beliefs and practices and traditions of Christianity through the ages and around the world

, there are some that are central to our life together, and this fall I am preaching a series of sermons on six of those things that matter to us. It matters that we are people of God’s extravagant welcome. It matters that we are a covenant people, a united and uniting church. And it matters that we are one at baptism and the table.

Baptism and Communion matter because they are the ways that we remember, inhabit, and hope our way into God’s welcome and God’s covenant. In these sacraments, celebrated together in worship, we say “Yes” to the stories of our ancestors, we say “Yes” to the reality of our life together, and we say “Yes” to the promise of what is yet to come.

The sacrament we celebrate around this font begins with a recitation of the place of water in the story of God’s people:

…In the time of Moses, your people Israel passed through the Red Sea waters from slavery to freedom and crossed the flowing Jordan to enter the promised land.

…Jesus was baptized by John in the water of the Jordan, became living water to a woman at the Samaritan well, washed the feet of the disciples, and sent them forth to baptize all the nations by water and the Holy Spirit.  [from  the UCC Book of Worship]

To those ancient stories, we add our own stories of water:

• the refreshment of a cool drink on a hot day,
• the miracle of crops and vineyards and orchards made verdant by sun and rain,
• the comfort of bath water after a day of hard work,
• the beauty of lakes, the power of rivers, the vastness of the ocean.

And to all these stories, ancient and modern, we add our promises for the future: to follow Jesus, to resist the powers of evil, to be servants in the service of others, and to accompany our brothers and sisters on journeys of faith and struggles for justice.

We believe that these are powerful promises, but not magic ones. We do not believe that our promises increase God’s love for us, or God’s grace, or God’s promise of eternal life. Baptism is not an inoculation against the dangers of life or the consequences of unwise choices. Baptism changes us, not God.

And so we are “one at baptism” because we join the company of faithful people in all times and all places who have said “Yes” to God’s invitation to be part of the great covenant of compassion, justice, peace, and eternal life. And in another sense, we are “one at baptism” because we share our need and our gratitude for the gift of water with people of all nations and all faiths. And in still another way, we are “one at baptism” because we affirm our connection to the one-ness of the earth and all of God’s creation.

The sacrament we celebrate at the table begins with the traditional words known as the “Great Thanksgiving:”

God be with you, and also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to God.

Let us give thanks to God most high. It is right to give God thanks and praise.

And then we do that: we give God thanks and praise. But what happens at the Lord’s Table is less about the particular words we say and more about the particular thing we do: we remember. We remember with our bodies – our eyes and ears, our hands, our mouths, and yes, our stomachs. Jesus told us to eat and drink “in remembrance,” and our remembering is physical: proprioceptive and sensual and visceral. We bring our whole selves to the table, and our whole selves are welcomed and fed.

It is our conviction that God offers this welcome and this nourishment to everyone: people of every age and nation, people of every background and tradition, people who are confident in their faith and people who are riddled with doubt, people who have led virtuous lives and people who succumbed to temptations, people who are church members and people who have never been to church before. My favorite words of invitation to communion are these: “All you have to be to come to this table is hungry.”

We are “one at the table” because we are all hungry. We all know, deep in ourselves, that we are not the people we want to be, and we are surely not the people that God created us to be. We are not able to love as consistently, give as generously, work as justly, or care as compassionately as we want to. We are not able to avoid heartaches and losses for ourselves, nor to protect our loved ones from disappointments and failures. The voices around us that promise fulfillment from possessions or position or power are telling us lies, and they leave us longing for another source of meaning and hope.

And so we come to the table. We come remembering that among the people gathered long ago for supper in the upper room, one would betray Jesus, another would deny him, and all would desert him. Jesus fed them anyway; surely he will feed us, too.

We believe that Jesus is present at this table when we gather here, but we care less about how he may be present in the bread and juice in front of us and more about how he may be present in the company of the people around us. When a deacon or I present the basket of bread to you and say, “the body of Christ,” we are not describing the bread or rice cake that you are about to take. We are calling you by name, identifying each of you as a member of the body of Christ. When we celebrate communion, we re-member Christ by bringing all of us members together.

Every year in Confirmation, I ask the young people what elements are necessary for communion to be authentic. I start with bread and juice, and then crackers and Kool-Aid, and then cookies and milk, and finally potato chips and Gatorade. They are never fooled by this exercise. They understand that the power of communion is not magically invested in homemade bread and organic grape juice; they understand that the power of communion is in community. We are “one at the table.”

There is a lovely children’s story by Rabbi Sandy Sasso called In God’s Name. (We read it in WFFF a couple of weeks ago.) She writes about how different people called God by different names, and then argued about which name was best. At the end, all of the people gather around a pond and finally agree on a single name for God, and that name is “One.”

We worship the God who is “one,” by being “one at baptism and the table.”

And it really does matter. It matters to every person who comes for baptism or presents an infant for baptism that we take seriously the covenantal promises that are made. It matters to every person who has been denied communion somewhere else to discover that they are welcome here. May our celebration of these sacraments be a blessing to us all. Amen.

Prayer for October 4, 2009

Almighty and everlasting God, creator of all things seen and unseen, hear now our silent prayers, as we open our hearts to you in the sacred quietness.

God of faith and hope, we bring before you our prayers for those we have named this morning – we especially remember … Bring to each of them the gifts of mercy and grace that are most needed, according to your wisdom and love.

Gracious God, on this World Communion Sunday hear our prayer for our neighbors around the world.

We pray for the countries from which our ancestors came …

We pray for the nations where we have friends and family members…

We pray for the countries which we have visited or studied …

We pray for the nations that provide us with goods and services that make our lives easier …

We pray for the countries that have been harmed or exploited by our presence or commerce …

We pray for the countries that treat us as threats or enemies …

And we pray for the children of all lands, that they may live and grow in peace …

All these things we pray in the name of the one who taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves, even Jesus the Christ, and we pray together now in the words that he taught us …