| The early 18th-century novelist and essayist Jonathan Swift once observed, “I always love to begin a journey on Sundays, because I shall have the prayers of the church to preserve all that travel …” (in Polite Conversation, dialogue 2)
Well, today we are witnesses to a Sunday-beginning of two truly grand journeys, a beginning in baptism of the journeys through life of Rainey Caroline Quinn and Shae Kimberly Simpson. And today we affirm that, to preserve them on their journeys through life, Rainey and Shae are blessed not only with the requisite love and protection of their parents and sponsors but also with the supportive prayers and nurture of this congregation and, most importantly, the abiding presence of God. And speaking of journeys, have you noticed how often the scripture lessons for these first Sundays after Pentecost have featured the imperative “go” or another closely related verb? Two Sundays ago, Christ commands his followers, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Then last Sunday, God says to Noah and family, “Go out of the ark…” (Gen. 8:16). And finally this week, God commands Abraham and Sarah, “Go from your country…to a land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1),and then Jesus calls to Matthew, “Follow me” (Matt. 9:9). All of these texts, coming as they do in the first several weeks after Pentecost, show that the Holy Spirit comes upon us not only to gladden our hearts but even more importantly to get us moving-moving on a journey toward our future rich with promise and hope, moving on an epic voyage in quest of deeper spiritual truths. Now God does not simply command us to “go” or to “follow” all on our own, without offering assistance. No, God blesses us in our going and in our following. So on our journey through life we are sustained by God’s promises: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Gen. 9:13). “I will bless you,… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2b-3). “Take, eat, this is my body.… Drink…, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28). “And remember, I am with you always…” (Matt. 28:20). Consider for example a contemporary journey through life, that of the American writer Anne Lamott. Lamott was 30 years old and trying both to write by day and to drink and drug herself into oblivion by night. Then, in 1984, she wandered into St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City, California. That Sunday turned out to be the first day of the rest of her life, the Sunday-beginning of a journey accompanied both by God and by the prayers and support of that loving congregation, a pilgrimage that led first to her becoming sober after a few years, and then to her being baptized, and at last to her becoming fulfilled as an author, as a mother of a son named Sam, and as an elder of the church. In her book entitled Traveling Mercies (Random House, 1999; pb Anchor Books, 2000), Lamott offers a spiritual autobiography, an account of the mercies that came to grace her journey through life. One of the chapters of her book that I found most moving is called, “Why I Make [My Son] Sam Go to Church.” Listen, please, to Lamott’s narration. “Sam is the only kid he knows who goes to church-who is made to go to church.… [Y]ou might wonder why I make this strapping, exuberant boy come with me most weeks, and if you were to ask, this is what I would say. “I make him because I can. I outweigh him by nearly seventy-five pounds. “But that is only part of it. The main reason is that I want to give him what I found in the world, which is to say a path and a little light to see by. Most of the people I know who have what I want-which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy-are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray, or practice their faith; they are Buddhists, Jews, Christians-people banding together to work on themselves and for human rights. They follow a brighter light than the glimmer of their own candle; they are part of something beautiful.” (pp. 99-100) Yes, through congregations like St. Andrew Presbyterian and Rutgers Presbyterian, God offers persons-both adults and children-a path for life’s journey and the brighter light of Christ. A standard blessing spoken to each other by the good people of St. Andrew Church is “Traveling mercies,” by which they mean, “Love the journey on which you’re setting out, for God is with you.” In Lamott’s book, she uses this greeting not only to wish her pastor a blessed vacation-“Traveling mercies, Reverend Goines”-but also to bless her son on the occasion of his birthday- “Happy Birthday, Sam, and traveling mercies”-and to bless a dear friend on her journey through death to eternal life-“Traveling mercies, Mimi.” Love the journey on which you’re setting out, for God is with you. So let me take the occasion this morning to wish both Rainey and Shae, “Happy Baptismal Day, and traveling mercies.” Love the journey on which you’re setting out, for God is with you. Yes, dearest Rainey and Shae, through the sacrament of baptism, God has now set you on a journey that will last your whole life long. You see, this sacrament, having now been performed, is still far from being over, for it marks just the beginning, the Sunday-beginning of God’s shaping of your life, the Sunday-beginning of the journey throughout which God will continue to sustain you, coming to you through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and through the love of family, sponsors, and this congregation. What God will make of each of you, we do not know. Where God will take each of you, we cannot say. But this we do know, and this we can say-God will be with you every step of your way, offering you water and bread for the journey. [this paragraph has been adapted from Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989, pp. 52-53] Happy Baptismal Day, Rainey and Shae, and traveling mercies. Love the journey on which you’re setting out, for God is with you. Let us pray: O God, grant us Your ongoing presence through the water and bread of Your sacraments as each of us journeys through life. And, as we travel, continue to preserve us through the prayers and loving support of family, friends, and this community of faith. This we pray in the name of the Risen Christ. Amen. |
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