Renewing our Baptismal Vows in a time of Disruption

Dear People of Ascension,

Rest assured, I have not gone on another sabbatical!  A cold at Christmas turned into bronchitis, and if you’ve had bronchitis, you know that it is not a quick experience.  I’ve emailed/texted with a few people who have had a similar experience in recent weeks.  As we are hearing in the news, it is a rough year for viruses!  I am getting better and look forward to being with you next week.  Thank you for your prayers and good wishes.

I had hoped to be better for this Sunday and actually started working on a homily.  I was pondering my own baptismal vows in light of what we are all dealing with in a dramatic global reality that has many of us feeling overwhelmed, worried and deeply concerned.  The shooting of Renee Good this past week feels pivotal.  Let us pray for good sense, communal compassion and true, peaceful justice to reign. 

I offer here some of my thoughts as I pondered our baptismal vows.  May it encourage you to renew your own in this time of great challenge.

With peace, Ruthanne

As we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, it is common to renew our baptismal vows.  That got me thinking a bit more about those vows, particularly in light of recent events around the world.  These days feel dark, like evil is pressing in more closely.  So it isn’t lost on me that our baptismal vows begin with renouncing the evil one and all evil deeds done against the goodness of God.

I am also remembering a legend told about Martin Luther.

It is said that he was often plagued by temptations of the devil.  In particular, the temptation to believe that God was not as powerful as God truly is.

One such legend tells us that Luther, in a fit of rage against the evil one, stood from his writing desk, threw his ink pot across the room and yelled, “I am baptized.”

Note how he is to have said, “I AM baptized” as opposed to “I was baptized”. 

In these challenging and dark days, when the news we hear would tempt us to believe that the God we worship, the God of Love, of Grace, of Mercy, of Healing, of Hope has either abandoned us or isn’t strong enough to work against these dark forces, let us be reminded of the following.

First, God dwells within us.  Those of us who have chosen to follow this Way.  We have marked this choice by our baptism and renewal of those vows. 

And secondly, it is through us that God chooses to work in this world.  Doing more than we can ask or imagine - and thank God for that.  For our imaginations are weary and our asking is often burdened with our doubts.

So let us renew our baptismal covenant on this Feast of the Baptism of Jesus.  Let us be renewed by the indwelling Spirit that is always with us.  And let us not grow weary of doing what is right, necessary and filled with God’s love.  For the sake of the world.  For the sake of our own souls.

A Baptismal Manifesto

I am baptized.  Immersed in the spiritual waters of Christ’s own Spirit.  Here I dwell.  Here I live.  Here I speak from.  Here I act from.  Here I will find my rest, my strength and my hope.

And for this very reason

I renounce

I refuse

I cast off

All the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God.

 

The hate speech that attempts to nullify God’s Loving Word.

The anti-immigrant sentiments that act against God’s Loving Embrace of All.

The violence that has become far too common place that destroys the beauty, creativity and life of God’s. creation.

 

I renounce

I refuse

I cast off

All the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creature of God.

 

The greedy ambition of individuals and corporations that place wealth before the well-being of everyone.

The misinformation and disinformation of those who refuse to listen to truth and be changed by it in the ways of Love.

The sickening ambition to obtain and hold power over others, over the created order, that corrupts and destroys what God has given as good.

 

I renounce

I refuse

I cast off

All sinful desires that draw me from the Love of God.

 

The moments my heart’s anger prompts angry words from my mouth or hasty and unthought-out actions of my body.

The seeds that are planted by the wounds inflicted upon me that I refuse to forgive and then grown into thoughts and actions intending to wound others.

The thoughts of my own rightness that keeps me from God’s righteousness and prevents me from the embrace of my neighbour who holds different thoughts, different practices than I do.

 

I choose to turn in a different direction.

I choose to walk a different pathway.

I choose to follow the Living Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

I place my whole trust in the Holy One who walks with dusty feet along narrow pathways.

I embrace the grace of the one who sat at the table with those whom others shunned.

I do my best to embody the Love of the One who died a horrific death in the mystery of God’s Love so that this world would know a different way.

 

I choose to follow the Living Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

I am baptized.  Here I will live.  Here I will act.  Here I will find my hope and my strength.  Here I will find my rest.