Baptism

The Rev. Paddy Cavanaugh, November 5, 2023

Readings; Acts 1:15-26, Psalm 15, Phillipians 3:13b-21, John 15:1,6-16

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 

On this Feast of All Saints, something incredible is about to happen. We are going to welcome someone special as the newest member of the Communion of Saints, which is the whole household of faith, past, present, and future. And we are going to do this by baptizing her in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But first, what is baptism, exactly? What is going on when we do it? Let’s start with a simple definition:

Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. Page 858 of the Catechism, in the Book of Common Prayer. Are y’all with me?

That’s okay, because we’ll get there. But first, you should know that today we are going to baptize Dagny Sofia House, the beautiful new daughter of Lauren DeCorte and Josh House. I suspect that this is not everyone’s first baptismal service. I happen to know that many of you yourselves have been baptized. I also happen to know that many of you have had your children baptized. But having done something is not always a guarantee that we know what we are doing. Anyone who’s ever been married will tell you that. So what exactly are we doing here. What is going to happen in a few minutes when we wash baby Dagny in that water? What about her will be different? What about us will be different? What is baptism? Let’s take a look, because the catechism says three simple, incredible things.

Number one: Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children.

We are adopted as God’s children in baptism because like the parents of a child, God made us and God loves us, and love is a physical act. Love is physically hardwired into our bodies. Anytime a parent shares a physical embrace with their children, the bodies of the parent and child are flooded with what is called the love hormone, oxytocin. This hormone then leads to the creation of a biological, emotional, and spiritual bond that is the absolute strongest that we humans are capable of. It’s possibly the closest we can come to replicating God’s love, and this bond of parental love is first sealed not through any conscious effort or willful decision of our own, but through the body. Baptism – water, oil, words, and hands – is that first, physical embrace we receive from God that cements the bond of love and marks us as Christ’s own forever. Like a parent’s embrace, baptism is a physical act that creates an unbreakable spiritual bond as we become God’s children. 

Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children.

Number two: Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church.

Because we are not the first to be baptized, to be adopted as one of God’s children, when we are baptized, we are born into a whole family with whom we now share the same spiritual DNA. A family who shares a common likeness, a family resemblance if you will, with Jesus Christ himself. Just as none of us chose our physical features, our quirks, our natural strengths and weaknesses, but rather received them from our parents and then learned to grow into them as we mature, so too in baptism do we receive a certain character, like a gene or imprint, that we share our brothers and sisters in Christ. This spiritual gene or imprint is given from God in baptism and it’s called grace. Grace given freely to us and grace that we gradually learn, and fail at, and then relearn through a lifetime of practice with one another, with our spiritual family, also known as the Church, or the Communion of Saints.

Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church.

Number three: Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God makes us inheritors of the kingdom of God. 

Now this one requires us to answer another question; what is the kingdom of God that Dagny is inheriting? The prophet Daniel describes the kingdom of God (Dan. 7:27) as a heavenly habitation – a house – spanning from heaven to earth in which God’s perfect love and perfect justice reign over all who inhabit it. And all who live in God’s house will strive to glorify God in all that they do. What Dagny will inherit is room in our heavenly Father’s house, where she, along with all of us, her new brothers and sisters in the family of God, will get to build more rooms, and guest rooms, and kitchens, and classrooms, and doors, and windows so that there is even more space to welcome others whom God adopts as His own. Our pledges that we will soon place on this altar are part of our commitment to shoring up this inheritance of grace here on earth. Our love, our prayers, and our resources all play a part in the building of God’s kingdom, to which Dagny will belong.

Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God makes us inheritors of the kingdom of God.

In a few minutes Dagny will be claimed as God’s beloved child, she will be given a new family and we will receive a new sister. And as her family we will promise to help her live into the grace that makes her a beloved inheritor of the kingdom of God.

Because friends, Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children,

Makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church,

And inheritors of the kingdom of God. Page 858, the Catechism, in the Book of Common Prayer. 

Are you all with me? Amen.