Forever

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

March 26, 2017—Fourth Sunday in Lent

Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant

Forever

Selected Texts

As many of you as were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

There is no longer Jew or Greek,

there is no longer slave or free,

there is no longer male and female;

for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  

(Galatians 3:27-28)

Do you hear Paul’s word to us?

We are one in Christ Jesus;

one with one another,

one with all followers of Jesus Christ;

all followers of Jesus Christ,

men and women from east and west,

from north and south,

different cultures,

different languages,

but all of us clothed with Christ.

We are one,

made one through baptism.

Barriers of race, gender,

status, and age are transcended.

Barriers of nationality, history

and practice overcome.”

(Book of Order, W-2.3005)

“In baptism, God claims us and seals us

to show that we belong to God.

God frees us from sin and death,

uniting us with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.

By water and the Holy Spirit,

we are made members of the church,

the Body of Christ,

and joined to Christ’s ministry of love,

peace, and justice.

In baptism, we die to what separates us from God

and are raised to newness of life in Christ.”

(W-2.3002)

Those are the words you hear me say

each time we have a baptism,

words I say along with Paul’s words to us,

each time we celebrate this Sacrament.

Together, they are the promises made

to each of us in our own baptisms.

In our baptisms,

we are claimed by God,

sealed by the covenantal act of baptism

to show to all the world that we belong to God,

that we belong to Christ,

that we belong to Christ forever,

forever:

in this life and the next.

Forever.

With even just a few drops of water,

we go under the water symbolically,

die to the old ways, the old life,

and come up out of the water

born anew,

born to new life in Jesus Christ.

We become part of the

holy catholic church of Jesus Christ,

catholic with a small “c”,

the church universal.

All those who profess faith in Jesus Christ,

regardless of denomination

are our brothers and sisters in faith.

We become one in Christ,

one through Christ.

                                                              

“Baptism signifies the beginning of life in Christ,

not its completion…”

(W-2.3007)

From the moment we rise up out of the water,

until we take our last breath,

“we are between the river of Eden

and the river of the heavenly city

at the end of time,”

as Professor Laurence Stookey has put it.

This place,

this place in between,

is a place called hope,

where we live out our new lives

as disciples of Jesus Christ.

                   

As we go through our litany in a few moments,

pay attention to the words we say;

listen to the them;

think about what you are saying and why.

Baptism is something we do in community,

but the litany is quite personal.

You will have the opportunity

you probably did not have when you were baptized:

to speak for yourself,

and respond to God’s grace,

God’s love.

When you come up and put your hand

in a bowl to retrieve a stone,

feel the water:

the water that gives life,

the water that washes you clean,

the water from which you have been given new life

in Jesus Christ.

And then take your stone,

your stone that says, “Hope”,

and remember the words

God spoke through the prophet:

“For surely I know the plans I have for you,

plans for your welfare and not for harm,

to give you a future with hope.”

(Jeremiah 29:11)

A future with hope,

a future that is yours,

mine,

ours,

in Christ,

through Christ,

with Christ.

May the God of hope

fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

so that you may abound in hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Romans 15:13)

AMEN