Friday, January 13, 2012

Living the grace to show the Light


As I sit here looking at a... well, looking at a blank page, I have to stop and think about the circumstances of my own baptism and how the journey has gone so far. My family, that is my parents, my maternal grandparents and I were on the run. Now we had not done anything wrong nor did we desire to run away from the crowded city. That for me would come later. My parents are dutiful people and they discussed who would take me to church and thus that is the church I would be baptised into. After all, the BCP does remind us that, the Minister of the Parish shall often admonish the people that they should bring their church for baptism as soon as possible after birth; and that except for urgent cause and necessity they seek not to have their children baptized in their houses.

I imagine that the day of my Baptism was hot and muggy because it was the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and because it was the Feast of the Transfiguration which means that it was early August. And because it was hot and muggy, the cool water put on my forehead was a shock and refreshment. Plus, like many little ones in similar situations, I probably “rang the rafters” with tones of disagreement as someone wiped the excess water from my face.

And that got me to thinking about the theological matters that seem to come with such a moment. Over the years I have listen and even from time to time participated in the battle about whether or not to wait concerning baptism. I have come to only one conclusion in it all, having been baptized, confirmed, commissioned and served as evangelist, studied and been ordained deacon and subsequently priest: as power as any of those moments might have been, what matters is not that moment but the  after.

What matters is how one responses to the grace that is conferred to us for the moments that will follow a baptism, a confirmation or even an ordination. When I was first ordained I (perhaps foolishly) waited for there to be a moment when I would feel like, that I would become and be a superhero that could preach and teach and lead thereby making the churches I served perfect and without a single problem. Yes I am aware the Church is not perfect but thank God we are being made perfect. Thank God also for the fact that we are gifted and that all the gifts and the things that we need to make Christ known in this city are here and are giving for us to use and to share. We become the “gifts of God for the people, the world of God.”

That is why it is important to be at worship with the rest of the Church on a regular basis: we need to present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable and living sacrifice to God. We need to live the grace of the moment of baptism in each and every moment that follows so that others will see, seek and serve Christ and learn to love as he does and to start learning by caring, sharing and loving one another. So let us take this opportunity to live out that grace and make it and Christ known to the praise of his kingdom and the glory of the Father almighty.

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