Some of you may recall that little poem of childhood entitled, “Outwitted”. “He drew a circle that shut me out/ Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win;/ We drew a circle that took him in.” We inevitably draw circles around us, as boundaries, to keep people out. That’s what sin often involves. Yet God is always enclosing us in a circle as with a life net, to include everyone within. That’s often what the offer of forgiveness and a new life of grace involves. That is what baptism specifically reminds us.
The Bible is full of people who had to wrestle with God’s promises. Abram, who became known as Abraham is honored as one of the great ancestors of faith. The first lesson this morning, tells of one of the great promises made to him. God assures him again that he will be a recipient of a great blessing, but Abram brushes God off. “What can you do, Lord, I am childless, and there will be no blood relative to provide security and protection to me in my old age?” But God didn't get offended and give up. God reiterated to Abram, “I made a promise to you and Sarah. Don't forget her or write her off.” Abram is told to stop gazing at his navel, feeling sorry for the way things are and to gaze at the stars in the sky and dream how things will be. Abram begins to understand that God brings people into new relationships, and together, in expanded relationships and a new future, God's Word will be brought to fruition.
So often when we first are offered the message of God's mercy, we push it aside, or try to squeeze it down into something too small to serve our own concerns of the moment. Our immediate concerns are similar to advertisements for all sorts of things designed for churches, which arrive via junk mail and e-mail all the time. Many sales pitches to churches appear to assume that most church committees are pretty naive and gullible when purchasing things for the church and the ad copy can be unintentionally amusing. I will never forget one multi-page, full color advertisement for installing bodiform pew cushions for heavenly seating. Yes, the sales pitch continued, bodiform cushions are specifically designed for thousands of members who demand more comfort from their churches. Made of high tech, non-allergic, stain resistant, polyurethane foam, they will quickly conform to the shape of your most picky parishioner. After sitting on these cushions the sopranos in your choir will be able to sing new highs, the basses, new lows, and even the tenors will be smiling. With parishioners feeling better, there will be fewer complaints about your sermons. Yes, if you purchase bodiform cushions for your pews, you will be known as the most comfortable church in town. Well, perhaps we can get away with demanding more comfort from our churches, but we won’t get away with that with God. As long as I am rector, I doubt we will ever purchase those bodiform pew cushions. Nevertheless, cushions or no cushions, we can easily delude ourselves into a very limited and self-centered belief that God’s mercy means comfort for our bottoms, instead of spiritual energy for our lives. That is why the Gospel always tests our analogies and our ways of sorting things. If, in some way, the Gospel doesn’t pinch us, we probably aren’t taking the Gospel seriously. If we don’t debate and even protest a bit against the practicality of God’s Word, it is clear that the warning that the way to the commonwealth of God is through a narrow door is for us.
At their baptism we will be giving Sophia and Waverly each a blanket, not a cushion. It will protect them and keep them warm and yes when they clutch it, even some comfort. Yet as they grow into adults, they will in turn be called to share with others. Linus of the Peanuts cartoon will never mature into adulthood until he learns to share his blanket and even somehow share and make peace with his grabby big sister Lucy.
In baptism we all have promised that we will serve as an example to honor the dignity of every human being. It will not always be a comfortable task. Our responsibility here as parents, as neighbors, and as people of faith is to fashion and align our lives so that our actions reflect our values and the promises we have made before Sophia and Waverly.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
