Welcome to Love

Scripture passage: Luke 1: 39-56

Third Sunday of Advent, 2016
James Bay United Church

Dear Oskar,

It will be quite a few years before you read this letter for yourself, but I wanted to write it to you now while the events of today are still fresh, because this is a pretty amazing day in your life.

On Thursday when you and I first laid eyes on each other, you were a sleepy little guy … more ready for your nap than a meeting with your minister! Your Mum and your Manitoba Grandma were with you so there was nothing to fear. They took their time unwrapping all the layers of warmth that bundled you up against the cold afternoon air. And then we opened the door -- one of your favourite things to do-- and you, on your own two feet, stepped inside the sanctuary.
You woke right up. Wide-eyed, you began to look around and walk around … any thoughts of a nap disappeared in a wink. There was too much new to explore. Eventually we poured some water into the font -- that was exciting! It was all about giving you a sneak preview so it wouldn’t be so completely strange when you arrived today for your baptism.

Well, so much for taking the strange out of today! Silly me for even trying, for this community, this Faith, this story we belong to that you have been baptized into today, it’s got strange written all over it! When I think back to your wide-eyed way in this place on Thursday, it’s as though you already knew that.

Take, for example, the story from the bible we read today on this day of your baptism: the story of young Mary and old Elizabeth, both women soon to give birth to baby boys. The timing’s all wrong … for Elizabeth, it’s way too late; for Mary, it’s way too soon. But both women dare to trust that God is at the heart of this strange turn in their lives. Somehow it comes to them both that God is working through them for some larger purpose. And somehow by God’s grace they are given to know this about each other. And so Mary makes the journey to Elizabeth’s home where they stay together for 3 months. It’s good to have the company of another who understands that God can ask of you things you never could have imagined for yourself.

That’s why Oskar, this morning we celebrated your baptism in the company of others, so that right from the get go, you would have companions on this journey -- a journey that may lead you in ways and into places that could well re-arrange your life!

It’s that kind of re-arranging that Mary sings about in the story we read from the bible this morning. It’s a song about turning the world upside down. She’s singing about her baby boy … how he’ll change the world. In fact she sings as though it’s already happening … like she can see it. And what does she see? Those who are down and out will be lifted up, while the high and mighty will be brought down. Those who are hungry will be filled, and those who have more than enough will be emptied of their excess. It’s a picture of this great levelling. She’s singing about a whole new way of being brought about by the revolutionary love of God.

It makes me think of the first conversation I had with your Dad and Mum. They were talking about how thankful they are to be living here in James Bay. And yet it looks like very soon, it’s only going to be the very wealthy who can afford to live here. Your Dad was emphatic … it shouldn’t be that way. I could hear the passion in his voice for a more just, a more compassionate arrangement that that ensures a place for everyone regardless of who you are. It’s like your Dad and Jesus’ mother, Mary, are singing the same song … singing about this great redistribution.
It’s hardly a lullaby! It’s a liberation song that sings of the dawning of a new day, a new way of being neighbours with each other where mercy abounds and every life is sacred. But it's not a song that everybody wants to sing … it’s a dangerous song … it’s an up-ending song. It calls for change … for a change of heart … a change in the way we see ourselves, the way we see each other and treat each other. It’s a song, Oskar, about what Jesus called the Kingdom of God … this whole new way of being that God intends for the world, right here, right now. And here’s another thing Jesus says: you cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless you are born of the Spirit.

I don’t know entirely what that means … but what I do know is that the Holy Spirit has a way of working wonders in us … the Holy Spirit has a way of giving us eyes to really see, and hearts to truly love, and all the vulnerability we need to live this up-side down way.

Today Oskar, you have been baptized into this up-side down way.
Here’s what happened:
We gathered around a font and we filled it until it was pretty much spilling over. Because God’s love is like that -- extravagant, freely flowing. And just as when you were born it was water that helped deliver you into this world (and a good deal of work on the part of your Mum), so today through the water of your baptism you are delivered into a whole new life.

With anointing oil we traced the sign of the cross on your forehead …
a sign that you are claimed as Christ’s own, forever!
The cross is a very powerful sign … you could spend your whole life discovering more and more what that means for you and our world. For followers of Jesus, it’s a sign of God’s love … a love so powerful that nothing in all the world can stop it or destroy or contain it.
It’s a sign that has given courage and hope to millions of followers of Jesus. It tells us that in every circumstance, no matter how difficult or horrible, God is there, already there, powerfully at work to bring healing, forgiveness -- to make all things new.
That sign has been given to you Oskar … it is traced on your forehead with the oil of blessing. Later today, you won’t be able to see it, just as you won’t always be able to see God’s powerful love. But know that it is there; and nothing can take it away --just as nothing can take away God’s love that is living in you.

As part of your baptism today, we gave you a candle … we lit it from the Christ light, and we said, “Oskar, receive the light of Christ.”
You see, this is your life’s work … to let the very same love that shines through Jesus, shine in you and through you.

As I describe all of this to you I find myself thinking “Wow! This is all so big and you are so small! How does a little one like you take it all in?!”

But you know what Oskar?
I’ve come to see that’s exactly God’s way with us … to call us to be part of something way bigger than we are …to ask of us more than seems possible. It is God’s way to dream in us a dream far more wondrous than we could ever dream for ourselves.
But God doesn’t call and ask and dream and then leave us to it. No! It is God’s way to be with us -- all the way.  “I will be with you,” God says to us. “I will always be with you.”

That’s really the secret to this whole upside down way of being … that we be at home in God’s Love.
So how perfectly fitting that the very last thing that happened today at your baptism, Oskar, was a piece of music. Your Victoria Grandma and Grandad stood up, and with their violins they played for you and to you “Salut d’amour” … Welcome to Love.

This day -- and all the way-- Oskar, may you be at home in God’s love.

With love and all the blessings of the Spirit,
Karen