Rev. David Boyd

On the Baptism of Oliver Ludwar

I was out walking last Monday, trying to work off some turkey from the night before. I was by myself, which I like to do, and was thinking about a variety of things. For some reason, I was thinking about when I became a Christian—when did I feel my heart strangely warmed as John Wesley said of his conversion or when did I feel a conviction that Christ's grace was given to me, as Martin Luther might have said? I thought to myself that I couldn't really say. I grew up in the church, had the opportunity to try different things in church. I enjoyed going to church as a teenager. I was steeped in the understanding that being a good Christian meant including others and practicing a deep love and acceptance. This led me to a form of Godly humanism for a while in my late teens and very early twenties, when the person of Jesus didn't matter a whole lot. I got back in touch with Christ at some point in my early 20's and then went on into the ministry. All of this was floating through my mind during my walk.

Latterly, I reflected during my walk—I'm sure some bear could have stood up right in front of me and I wouldn't have noticed, my thinking has returned full circle to the person of Jesus. Who is this person that we choose to follow? What is his life for us today? I find myself thinking that I am less of a Christian and more of a follower of Jesus. I thought to myself out on my walk up in the mountains on a cold Monday afternoon that I ought to write a book and that I should entitle it, "How I ceased being a Christian and became a follower of Jesus."

I say this because I wonder what the church will look like when Oliver is my age—a mere 25 years from now! My hunch is that the Church will be more about following Jesus and less about being Christian. It will be less about who is the greatest and more about baptism into the life of Jesus. It will be more about service to others in the world; it will be more about giving up our life so that others may live more abundantly. It will be more about the Wisdom Jesus, whose whole life was a parable of undiminishing love and radical acceptance and forgiveness. It will be more about the Jesus who embodied God's Commonwealth of Shalom. This is what the Church will be like when Oliver is my age, and I dearly hope that he persists and continues and lives this legacy... for I think the world would be poorer without the followers of Jesus.

It's interesting that we ever adopted the term Christian in the first place. The term appears only 3 times in the Christian Scriptures, quite late—twice in Acts and once in 1^st Peter. It literally means "of the party of Christ" or "of Christ." The term was first used in Antioch in a serious way. Nero supposedly blamed "the Christians" for burning Rome in the year 64. It was thought that it was first used derisively by Romans and Greeks to refer to those who followed Jesus. And yet, the title stuck.

As I was thinking about all of this on my walk last Monday afternoon, it occurred to me that it's easier to be a Christian. I feel like I've taken the easier way in being a Christian, emphasising the risen Christ, the Christ of the Church, the post-resurrection, post-Easter figure of Jesus Christ. In this post-Easter Church of Christians, especially after the 4th century, we've tended to focus on Jesus as the Christ, who doesn't shock us too much, who doesn't make us too uncomfortable. Now, I'm over generalizing, but I realized that I'm not unique in the United Church and I feel that I'm rather soft on the Wisdom Jesus, the Jesus who makes demands on his followers.

I said it was easier to be a Christian. And that's right; it's harder to be a follower of Jesus. I think we reluctantly took on the term Christian—I hope we did 1800 or 1900 years or ago. And maybe Oliver and his generation will give it up again. The book of Acts also refers to us Christians as "Followers of the Way." I like that. We are also known as disciples of Jesus, as followers of Jesus, as believers, as the faithful. Being Christian sometimes feels too passive. Being a follower of Jesus or the Way, being a believer or one of the faithful means that something is expected of us. It's harder being this follower; we have to give things up. We have to stop worrying about status and privilege. We have to stop thinking that we've got it all figured out. Maybe we need to listen to Job. It might be that as a Church we are in the whirlwind with Job; we've made certain assumptions about the way Church ought to be or the way the world is. We've arrogantly presumed to know better and God is now offering words that challenge. Job challenged the common assumption in some Jewish circles, namely that you get what you deserve. No one deserved the horrors that Job experienced, especially his family. And yet Job never cursed God; he didn't give in to the line that his friends wanted him to adopt, that he should acknowledge his sins and God would forgive and all would be well. Job maintained his innocence, and he was right to do so. But perhaps he did so a little self-righteously, for God speaks out of the whirlwind and says, ÒWho is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?" Maybe we should be asking these rhetorical questions of us Christians in the Church.

This is a tough baptismal sermon, I know, but I think Collin and Jessica would want us to face up to the tough challenges the Church of the 21st century is facing. I want there to be a church for Oliver—a United Church right here in Nelson. I desperately hope that the world we are leaving to our children and our grandchildren will be a world of hope and peace. But we've got something to do with making that happen, both the Church part and the world part.

In Mark's Gospel, the other reading we heard today, Jesus talked about being baptised with his baptism. This is tough stuff; after all, Jesus was crucified. I don't remember reading about having to go through a crucifixion when I signed on to being a Christian. No, we're not called to crucifixion. But we are called to live the hard truths of what it means to practice justice and live the radical kind of love that Jesus embodied. It does mean speaking truth in the halls of power. It does mean service to others; it does mean looking beyond appearances and into the heart of our brothers and sisters. It does mean that we hold one another accountable for our actions in community. It does mean that we ask the hard questions when faced with issues about food, or health, or security.

But by being followers of Jesus, we discover the gift of new life. We are here because we've tasted of that new life. We are here to celebrate a baptismÑOliver's baptism, and that is all about new life, about new beginnings. We discover and rediscover the means to live a radical hope that reaches deep into the hearts of the world's leaders and holds them accountable, but that also reaches into the hearts of those who are downtrodden and provides a ray of light. By being followers of Jesus we learn not to define ourselves by our mistakes, but to define ourselves by the giftedness that we all possess. By being followers of Jesus, we proclaim, for Oliver and all children under our care, that life is good, for it is God's gift to the world! This is part of what baptism means!

By being followers of Jesus, the seeds of a radical hope, the seeds that embody new life, forgiveness, a deep and abiding love that sets us free and enables us to soar on the wings of eagles is planted within us. Oliver, you are set to soar on the wings of eagles. We welcome you into this magical mystery tour that we call Church and being followers of Jesus.

Amen.