A Sermon Preached by The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
The Occasion of Baptism
July 7, 2024
The Chapel of St. James the Fisherman, Wellfleet, MA
Today is a very important day, because today we baptize Isla Mae Skiba, Wesley Smith Skiba and William Jesse Epstein Coburn.
Isla and Wesley have spent their whole lives on Cape Cod. Their mom Kelli is an educator and their dad Ted is a landscaper, who in fact, has done some work on this property. I met them on the beach in Puerto Rico where they were renting a vacation apartment from our very own warden Martha Wilson.
William, along with his brother Nathaniel and his sister Ruthie, has spent nearly every summer of his life here in Wellfleet, worshiping with his family here at the chapel. He is, in fact, the great grandson of Bishop John Coburn, one of the chapel’s founding clergy.
Isla, Wesley and William – you are about to become members of the Body of Christ. Through water and the Spirit, you will be named, claimed, and marked by God in a very special way; and you will be called by God for a very important lifelong task: to become agents of God’s justice, love and mercy for all creation. And, not unlike some of our favorite superheroes, at baptism, our foreheads are marked with an invisible tattoo to help us remember who we are and to whom we belong.
Batman has a bat hat,
Superman has a big S on his chest,
Captain America has a star,
Spiderman has a spider,
Flash has a lightning bolt, and
Wonder Woman has a double W.
As baptized Christians, we are marked with a cross on our foreheads to remind us that we’re called to be part of something bigger than ourselves: the church – the Body of Christ in the world. As the church, we are called to carry out God’s work in the world. In other words, the baptized, all of us, are called, like Batman, Superman, Captain America and Wonder Woman, to work for truth, justice, and the Christ way.
When we get baptized, we don’t become superheroes, but we are invited to do something very important with our ordinary lives: to be people of faith in what often feels like an unfaithful world – to stand up for what is good and right in the name of love.
This morning – Wesley, Isla and William – you, along with your parents and godparents, will be asked to promise to say no to evil – those things that hurt others – and to say yes to love – those things that make the world a better place. And everybody here will be asked to support you in these promises. And then, together, we’re all going to renew the promises of our own baptism.
Together, we will recommit to our promise to follow the way of Jesus: to stay in community, say our prayers, try to be good, and when we screw up, ask for forgiveness and try again. We will renew our promise to proclaim the good news of God’s love in what we say and do. We will once again promise to love our neighbor as ourselves, to work for justice and peace, to respect the dignity of every human being and all the rest of creation. These promises are called the baptismal covenant, and they are sacred promises sealed by the waters of baptism. It’s sort of like making a handshake with God.
I know this is a lot to understand. It’s sort of hard to explain, but let me try.
First, let me tell you what I think it means in the words of a famous poet. Her name was Mary Oliver. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio (where I live when I’m not here). When Mary Oliver was a kid (long before you or I were born), she would go into the woods near her house to explore nature, build forts (or huts, as she called them) and then write poems. As a grown up, Mary Oliver moved to Provincetown where she lived and wrote poetry for nearly forty years, going to church most Sundays at St. Mary’s of the Harbor, the Episcopal Church on Commercial Street.
In one of her many poems, Mary Oliver wrote that she got up early every morning to “say hello to the sun with happiness and kindness.” Then, to be with nature, she often went for a morning walk in the woods, the dunes, and on the beach, often with her dog named Percy. She even wrote a book of poems about Percy.
In her poetry, Mary Oliver asked lots of questions about life and faith. In one poem, she asked: do cats pray while they lie half asleep in the sun; does the possum pray as it crosses the street; do sunflowers pray standing up tall by the fence; and does the black oak tree pray as it grows older each year?
In her most famous poem entitled, “The Summer Morning,” Mary Oliver wrote what she did and did not know about life. She didn’t know exactly what a prayer is, but she did know how to fall down in the grass, wander in nature, do nothing, and pay attention to the world around her and the voice inside of her. And then she asked a really important question about being human: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
William, Wesley, and Isla – over the course of your lifetime, you will be asked to do many things and make many plans and promises. You will be asked to go to school, get a job, give back to your community, and help make the world a better place. You might be asked to get married, have children, or even take care of your parents when they are old. The world in which you are growing up is rapidly changing, and the challenges and opportunities that you face will be different from those of your parents and grandparents. You might be asked to do some very hard things with “your one wild and precious life.”
Throughout history, people have been called to do difficult things. As we read this morning in the Bible, the prophet Ezekiel (who lived a really long time ago) was called by God to speak to his people whether or not they heard him. He was asked to be a prophet.
Jesus was also called by God to be a prophet, as well as a teacher, a leader and a healer. When he tried to do those things in his hometown, his people didn’t hear him. They asked: who is this man and where did he get his power; isn’t he just one of us? So Jesus answered that prophets are not always respected in their hometowns and among their own families and friends. That’s just a fact of life.
Then he sent his closest followers (the disciples) – a group of fishermen that included James for whom this chapel is named – into the world to preach, teach and heal. He told them to travel lightly, stay in the homes where they were welcomed, and accept the hospitality offered to them. And, if people weren’t willing to welcome them or hear what they had to say, Jesus told the disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move on.
Wesley, Isla and William – this is an important lesson to remember. Like Mary Oliver, Ezekiel, the first disciples, and even Jesus, you’re going to be sent to all kinds of places and asked to do a lot of things in this lifetime, and you’re going to have to decide whether or not you will do them. And that decision won’t always be easy. But, guess what? When the time comes, you’ll figure it out. For as Dr. Seuss once wrote: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose…”
If you ask for help and listen to the voice of God inside of you, you’ll know which direction to choose. And, with the power invested in you by God through your baptism – the water poured over your head and the invisible tattoo on your forehead – you’ll be able to do what you’re supposed to do.
So how can you hear the voice of God inside of you? You have to go somewhere quiet and listen. According to Mary Oliver and Jesus, the best way to do that is to get up early, go off by yourself, talk with God in whatever language you choose to use, and pay attention to what God has to say and to what God is calling you to do with “your one wild and precious life.”
Do you think you can do that? If so, let’s get on with your baptisms and make you special agents for God in the world.