Baptized into Hope

A relative was up at Chautauqua last week and heard a speaker from some other denomination lecture the crowd that it was all up to them, each person is responsible for managing what has been entrusted to him, so get at it right now.

My relative observed how un-Lutheran the address was, because it only gives part of the scene.

If it is all up to us, each of us individually and all of us together as a group, then we are in deep trouble, indeed.

We mess up every attempt when we think that we can; it is an ultimately depressing way of looking at life.

The lessons this day are pointing us to know that it is not all up to us, that the one truly in charge of life will take our efforts, faulty and partial though they be, and manage to make something out of them.

Paul says that God has not rejected his people, the ones whom he has called, but instead has mercy on us despite our disobedience, willfulness, ineptitude, or sloth, or any other way in which we have treated God's good gifts badly.

When we read the Gospel lesson today, we wonder why Jesus seems to give such a harsh reply to the woman asking for help.

If he is a God of mercy, why does it sound like he is brushing her off?

He is not dismissing her.

Instead, h is moving her along so that she will voice the faith that is beginning to bubble up in her life.

It takes awhile for her to work it through, but at length she confesses that she cannot do it alone, that she needs the help that Christ Jesus offers, and receives it gratefully and thankfully.

Her life will henceforth be organized around that fact.

There's a wideness in God's mercy,

we sing in a familiar hymn,

And a promised grace made good...

There is grace enough for thousands...

There is plentiful redemption

In the blood that has been shed,

There is joy for all....

[LBW#290]

And God makes that very particular this day in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

It is not just for that Canaanite woman long ago, but for Breanna today, as well as for all who have been baptized into the Name of Christ Jesus.

Her accomplishments center about eating, sleeping, and making messy diapers.

Not a very impressive list.

Grace to you anyway, says Jesus.

I place my claim upon you,

I give my promise to you.

It will take Breanna the rest of her life to understand what Jesus is offering and doing this day.

To understand, to appreciate, and to make use of these gifts is our chief task in life.

I have a relative who thinks there is nothing in the community of the church for him.

I keep hoping that he will at some point recognize that the Lord God is still giving him good gifts even when he is not acknowledging them.

There is room for every kind of “outsider”, the self-imposed kind, the economic kind, the social standing kind, etc.

This Good-News-attitude finds its fulfillment in the words and action of the Lord Jesus.

It began in old Israel.

The prophet Isaiah was developing that concept in our first lesson today.

It likely made his first hearers anxious or annoyed, but he spoke it anyway:

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples...for foreigners, for the outcasts of Israel, the Lord speaks through Isaiah.

...for those who have been near all along, and for those called from a spiritual, relational, or physical distance.

Oh, please, let us all hear this as Good News, and act upon it!

I have to give you the sad, negative example of my home parish.

My sister reminded me this week about this incident that has been very telling in the history of the parish.

Some years ago, Eileen was serving as the volunteer Bible School director.

Each year things were progressing well until the year that she had 80 students for the week, and the old building was fairly bursting with activity.

Besides time and skill, she was providing a portion of the resources needed to carry out the program, and making inventive use of everything she had.

At the close of the week, when she was rating the week a great success, she was reprimanded by the council for submitting some bills for payment.

“You had too many students,” she was told.

“A lot of them were not our people, and it costs too much to serve them.”

You can guess that attitude brought about the end of her leadership in VBS, the rapid dwindling of the program, the pronounced shift of the congregation from a church for the whole community to a chapel for a few tight-knit families.

It is a sad and unnecessary situation, and one which does not match the Good News in the lessons today.

--There is room for all who respond;

--there is reason and place for hope;

--the new and lasting reality is the body of Christ in the world, the church.

May our actions at home, out in the community, and whenever we gather as church in the coming week match this faith in Christ's promises.

Even in those times when we feel a bit like Breanna, with only a very few accomplishments, let us remember that it is not all up to us.

Let us rejoice in the God who is first faithful to us...

...without whom nothing is,

All perfect gifts bestowing. [LBW#504.1]Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.