Baptismal Covenant

Genesis 1:1-5, NIV

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Acts 19:1-7, NIV

1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"

They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?"

"John's baptism," they replied.

4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

Mark 1:4-11, NIV

4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Message:

We are in our third week considering covenant. Two Sundays ago we looked at what covenant is, what the expectations of covenant are and what we do when we fall out of Covenant. We hear the scripture passage from Ecclesiastes where they old man, looking back on his life determines that the best we can do in this life is be happy and do good. that same Sunday we heard from the Gospel of Matthew about the separation of the sheep and the goats.

You may remember that Matthew most likely was writing this for his own faith community. We like to think that the early church was united in their experience and vision as they were closer some how to Jesus. The truth is that many churches suffered from conflicts and divisions. For Matthew the problem was with how Christians cared for each other. When Jesus came, he separated the people based on how they lived and acted toward one another and not who they professed or if they were baptized.It was about what we would call their covenant of membership in the faith and family of Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday, we read together from a summary of Dr. Nordbeck’s keynote addresses to the Northern California Nevada Conference in 2006. At that time, she reminded us that Covenant

“ is something that we enter by choice. It is not a quid pro quo. It is historical and relational. It is active, requiring discernment and spiritual maturity. Covenant, she said, is a work in progress. She gave us four areas where covenant needs to be worked on and ten descriptions of what covenant is.”

“Four areas that Dr. Nordbeck identified as needing work are as follows:

1. We need to pay attention beyond our specific church. As Congregationalists we are thoughtful, reflective, and independent. And we are held together with other congregations in our covenant. We call this the United Church of Christ and we need to work on clarity in this and all our covenant relationships.

2. We need new ways to establish our covenantal ties. When the writers of the Salem Covenant put down their simple words in 1629, they all knew each other very well and were mostly related to each other. Unlike the writers of that early covenant, most of us joining the church do not share a lengthy history together. We have to work on the relationship between one another and between our churches. It is in relationship that we build trust and loyalty and these elements are essential before a covenant can be established.

3. We must shift our focus from diversity to unity in God's mission. Diversity is a step along the journey with Christ, not the end. Diversity must pull together in the service of the whole. We must strive for unity as churches, associations, conferences, and as a denomination.

4. We must work on a healthy realism and practicalism alongside the idealism of unity. In our efforts toward welcoming all, we must also be able to name "sin". There are expectations of how we will live together.

So, these were Prof. Nordbeck's areas to be worked on.”

This morning we look carefully at our covenant in Baptism.

Consider the scripture passages we have heard.

First we heard the reading from Genesis about the beginning of creation. Please, keep in mind that this is a painting not a photograph of the happenings of creation. This is not a story to give us facts of history. This is a story with far deeper truths.

The passage begins with the Hebrew language saying something closer to “ when God began beginning” thus, we are meeting God at the very earliest point and that earliest point of creation is in darkness.

Have you ever notice that it seems that creation mostly happens in times of darkness - bear with me. We grow in the darkness of our mother’s wombs. We become most creative during the darkness of life challenges, the unknown of job loss, changes in health, the addition of a child to the family, the discovery of shadows within ourselves revealed in times of stress. Darkness while for many of us is something to be feared, it is also in the chaos of darkness that creation happens.

From the Acts of the Apostles, we found Paul on the road in Ephesus. There he meets a gathered church where the people have been baptized as a matter of ritual but they have not been inspired - in spirited. They have done the acts of baptism but the Spirit was not present in them. Paul laid his hands upon them and invited them to welcome the spirit. They did, and new life came to them. They better understood who they are and whose they are.

And in the gospel, we met John and Jesus at the baptism of Jesus. John’s baptismal pledges required everyone to turn away from the things that separated them form God. Those that joined in this baptism were to strive to live more holy lives. We don’t know the pledges. We can make guesses because of the type of community John encouraged. And there were expectation.

When Jesus was baptized by John, he joined with the community of John and the covenant they shared. When we join together in baptism, we join in a covenant with the way of this Jesus.

There are some among us who have not been baptized. God’s love is stilled poured out to you whether you have entered this covenant or not. Some of you were infants when you were baptized. While you do not remember the pledges of baptism, you may be surprised to know that when you became a member of this church or any other of our churches, you reaffirm your baptismal pledges. As we consider our baptismal pledges and our affirmation of those pledges in the covenant of membership, you may find that you are inspired to be baptized or to join in membership. Or you may find after considering these pledges that the responsibilities of this covenant are not agreeable to you and you may want to withdraw your membership. I trust the Holy Spirit to guide you.

Turn with me in the hymnal to the Order for Baptism. It begins on page 31.

The rite begins with and invitation, a welcome, an address, and then come the questions of the Candidates.

At the baptism of an infant these are pledges the parents take on for the child until he or she is old enough to make the covenant at confirmation or at the time of becoming a church member.

For older children and adults, these are pledges they take on for themselves. Turn to page 34. Hold that spot while turning to page 45. There you find the pledges for membership. They are the affirmation of the pledges of baptism. They are exactly the same.

When I meet with people preparing for baptism, we read through each of these pledges and I ask what they understand each pledge to mean. I ask you the same this morning. Let’s read through and consider these pledges one at a time.

Do you desire to be baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?

Do you renounce the powers of evil and desire the freedom of new life in Christ?

Do you profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best as you are able?

Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow in the Christian faith and to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, celebrating Christ’s presence and furthering Christ’s mission in all the world?

Now, turn to page 46. When we affirm our Baptism and become members of a local church, we take on one more pledge.

The Question about Participation:

Do you promise to participate in the life and mission of this family of God’s people, sharing regularly in the worship of God and enlisting in the work of this local church as it serves this community and the world?

I had a church member once tell me that he had not made any pledges of membership. Since, he arrived before I did at that church, I have no idea what happened when he became a member. What I do know is that if you have joined a church, you have made a promise to live in covenant being faithful to your baptismal vows and to your pledge to participate.

If you are not able to do these things, then it is reasonable to withdraw membership. If you are ready to do these things, then the time is right to become members. It is a practice. It is an exercise and and art to live this way of Jesus Christ. To join together in the covenant of baptism is to welcome God’s love poured out to us and to join into covenant with God to seek to live a spiritually maturing life. To reaffirm that baptism at the time of becoming members is to commit ourselves to grow in faith and to grow in community. It is a life long process of becoming that creature God knows we can be. It is an invitation to live and grow in covenant.