Two Hundred Teachers for Myles

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
May 14, 2006
The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Two Hundred Teachers for Myles
John 15:1-8
1 John 4:7-21

Do you realize what you all did a few minutes ago?
You all became godparents.
Everyone here became a godparent for Myles.

You heard the question Deborah asked you:
“Do you as members of the church of Jesus Christ,
promise to guide and nurture Myles by word and deed,
with love and prayer,
encouraging him to know and follow Christ
and to be a faithful member of his church?”

You said, yes, you will do that.
The response was “we do”,
but you were each saying that you do;
each of you agreed to take on that responsibility.

Every time I have baptized a child,
you have agreed to help him or her to know Jesus Christ.
Every time I have baptized anyone of any age,
you have agreed to help him to know Jesus Christ.

In the Presbyterian Church, we do not consider baptism
a sign of salvation;
rather it is the mark that someone has become a member
of Christ’s holy catholic church, the church universal,
the church of Jesus Christ.
We think of it as the sign and seal of Christ.
Our Worship Directory puts it this way:
“In Baptism, we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In Baptism, we die to what separates us from God and
are raised to newness of life in Christ.
Baptism points us back to the grace of God
expressed in Jesus Christ,
who died for us and who was raised for us.”
W-2.3002

We do not baptize into a denomination:
so Myles was not baptized Presbyterian.
Myles was baptized as a Christian.
We believe baptism should be done once in one’s lifetime.
If you were to leave this church and join a Methodist Church,
then leave there and join a Lutheran Church,
and then leave there for a Roman Catholic Church,
your baptism would go with you,
just as it came with you
if you were baptized somewhere else
before you came to this church.

In the Presbyterian Church we baptize at any age.
For the first thousand years of the church,
baptism accompanied a public profession of faith.
You were not baptized until you were old enough
to be able to stand before a congregation
and profess your faith in Jesus Christ.
Infant baptism is something that we began doing
not long before the Reformation.
Some Protestant denominations still do not baptize infants;
they practice what is called believers baptism:
they wait until the believer is old enough
to profess his or her faith.

We split the two activities:
We baptize to mark the entry into the church universal,
Christ’s holy catholic church - catholic with a small “c”.
Public profession of faith comes when a person becomes
a member of the church.
We will be witnesses to that next Sunday
when the students in our Confirmation Class
publicly profess their faith and become members of this church.

Baptism is a sacrament for us,
one of the two we observe in the Presbyterian Church.
We treat Baptism with the seriousness it merits
as we baptize in the name of the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.

Over the past six years I have averaged
a telephone call every other month
from someone with no connection to the church
looking for someone to baptize a newborn child.
I always have a nice conversation with the person,
but the conversation usually ends
when I tell them that our Presbyterian constitution
requires that they be a part of this congregation
before we can think about baptizing a child.
A common dilemma ministers face is when
proud grandparents who are members of the church
announce that their daughter and son-in-law
will be visiting next month with their brand new baby
and wouldn’t it be wonderful
if we could baptize their new grandchild.
They explain that their daughter and her husband are
busy with work and just have not had time to find a church home,
in the community where they live,
and besides, the daughter grew up in this church.
The minister get portrayed as the bad guy when he says
that the parents of the child should first find
a church home for themselves and the child
and then think about baptism.

The family of the child should be participating regularly
in the life of this church before we baptize.
They do not have to be members,
but they need to be here, part of the life of this congregation.
It is the only way we all can keep our covenant as godparents,
and it is the only way we can take seriously
the parents’ commitment
that they will help the child know Jesus Christ.
and help their child to learn.

So how do we help Myles know Jesus Christ?
How do we honor the commitment we all just made?

The most obvious way is, of course, through Christian Education.
Through the church we provide Sunday School for all our children.
Our Christian Education program is something
everyone in the church should be involved with at some point.
Everyone should help in the classroom,
even just to sit in and be a helper for teacher.
It is a way for you to honor your commitment to every child
to help them know Jesus Christ.
It’s also a way for you to get to know our children.
And you might be surprised by
how much you learn in the classroom.

But even more important than our Sunday School
is the example you provide for our children.
In her book Real Kids, Real Faith:
Practices for Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Lives
Karen Marie Yust, tells us that we teach by modeling.
We help our children know Jesus Christ
by modeling the life of Christ in everything we say and do,
in how we live our lives.

Children, especially our youngest children, are so perceptive.
They pick up on body language, tones in voices,
They pick up on subtle changes in behavior.
Our children pick up on everything we do and say
as Disciples of Christ.
Our children pick up on everything we do
as individuals and as a congregation.
They know when we are sincere,
and they have extremely sensitive radar for hypocrisy.

It is why Jesus teaches us that it is by “our love for one another”
that we are known as his disciples.
Words go only so far,
Jesus wants action – all the time, 24/7.
Jesus does not teach us it is by our love for one another
on Sunday morning for an hour
that we are known as his disciples.
No: Jesus makes it absolute.

John re-emphasizes this point in his letter.
His letter is all about love.
Such a simple concept, yet one we make a hash of
with such gusto.
John writes,
“Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is from God;
whoever does not love,
does not know God.”

How clear is that?
How concise, to the point:
whoever does not love, does not know God.
There is nothing conditional about this.
No escape clauses,
no exceptions, no, “whoever does not love,
does not know God,
except on Friday evenings in rush hour traffic;
or while you are standing in the
express line at the grocery store;
or after church is over
or when money is involved.
or when you are angry,
or when feel you have been mistreated.”

It is simple:
act selfishly,
talk maliciously,
gossip about someone,
make unfounded statements,
act in anger,
act in pettiness,
act alone,
act with others,
and if you are not acting in love,
you have stopped knowing God,
you are no longer recognizable as a disciple of Christ.

You are no longer one of Myles’ teachers,
no longer living up to your part of the covenant
you just made with him;
no longer living up to the covenant
you have made with all the children in this church.

You can rationalize your actions and your words,
you can paint yourself as the victim,
but you cannot fool God,
and you cannot fool a child.
They will know when you are not acting in love,
they will know when you are not acting faithfully.

Here’s a quick test to see how well you are doing:
If you find yourself in a conversation with someone
and you are talking about another person,
think about how you might respond
if you suddenly realized that Jesus was standing
right behind you listening to your every word.
Would he approve of your words?
Your sentiments?
Would he approve of your actions?
Your motivations?
Would he say to you,
“well done, good and faithful servant”
Or would he say, “how is what you just said,
what you just did, a display of love?
How?
Show me. I am confused.
Explain to me.”
Jesus sets the bar high for each of us,
for all us.
And I don’t think he is fond of excuses.

Remember John’s words, “those who say, ‘I love God’
and hate their brothers and sisters are liars.”
For Jesus, hate is not so much an active act,
as it is the absence of love.
So, all it takes is for you not to love one person
and John would call you a liar.
All it takes is for you not to love one person
and Myles and every other child in this church
would lose a teacher.

The months ahead will provide you with an opportunity:
an opportunity to do some introspection,
to look deep within yourself and take stock.
That’s hard to do;
it is so much easier to look outward
and take stock of someone else;
but of course, our Lord would call that judging,
and he’s clear as can be on that one:
Do not judge, lest you be judged.

What we are called to do is look within ourselves;
what you are called to do is look within yourself.
look within yourself: take a hard look
see where you have fallen short,
taken the wrong path,
made your model for brotherhood Cain and Abel.

Then lift up a prayer to God
and ask him to do a little pruning,
ask him to clear away the weeds
that have begun to choke the vine
that connects you with God’s love in Christ.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
“We love, because God first loved us.”

Share that love;
show that love
with family, with friends,
with everyone here – yes everyone.
When you do that –
and ONLY when you do that
will you be modeling the love you have been given,
we have been given,
by God through Jesus Christ.
When you do that,
and ONLY when you that,
will you be a faithful teacher for Myles.
AMEN