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Christmas II Year C |
St James’, Peace River |
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It took me a while to notice the common thread running between the readings that are set for today, but once you see it it's kind of a no-brainer. It's all about childhood – being God's children. And how very appropriate that is for the second Sunday after Christmas, as we start to move back from celebrating the birth of the Son of God, back into pondering what that means for us. If Jesus is God's Son, then who are we? And how very appropriate as well on a day when we are celebrating Kendrick's dedication as a child of God. This is something new to many of us, although not to the Lewin family as both Cassie and Westley were dedicated in the same way. But I think a brief word of explanation may be in order. One of the differences of practice which unfortunately gives Christians something to argue about has to do with baptizing babies. It's not just a difference of protocol – both positions stand for something important. Anglicans, along with many other Christians, generally baptize babies from believing families as a sign that we are already, even before we know it, part of the new family of God into which we are growing up. But there is another Christian tradition emphasizing that baptism is a sign of conversion, the work of God's grace which turns a person's heart towards God – and in that tradition it makes more sense for the person being baptized to be an adult who understands why they need to turn around and what that means. Both positions have their strong points, and both have their problems – it's one of those unresolved differences of opinion which I suspect God is hoping will teach us greater insight, and in the meantime, greater charity! Those of you who know Brad and Erin will realize that they have lived and worked in both of those traditions, and I think part of their ministry is to help both sides of the coin see “how the other half lives”. It's challenging for any family to live with a foot on each side of one of these Christian differences, but it's also a great service to the church as they recognize and celebrate the gifts of different traditions and work at reconciling them in real life. So I want to say thank you to Erin and Brad for your faithfulness and willingness to work on God's call to you and your family in this way. For Kendrick, what that all means is that today is a service of dedication. In our Anglican tradition, it's similar to a service which used to be practised much more than it is today: the thanksgiving for a child. Generations ago people were perhaps more attuned to the risks and dangers of childbirth, both for mother and baby. They needed a way to say thank you to God that everyone was alive and well. Today the service is still used by people who have come through a difficult experience, and also by adopting parents, for whom the arrival of a child is a different kind of miracle. But for any family, the arrival of a baby is one of those moments when we all want to acknowledge God's presence and work and grace in our lives, whether we do it formally in church or just in our hearts. On top of that foundational layer of thanksgiving, today we're adding an element of commitment which is drawn from the other stream of Christian tradition. We're familiar with it from our own practices as well. Something both traditions share is the recognition that children come to know God primarily through those around them – mostly their parents, as they live out their faith and exemplify what it means to be one of God's people. But also other responsible Christians who make the commitment as godparents to watch over and guide a child's growth in faith and in following God's way. So today is also a celebration of the ministry of parenting, something many of us are or have been involved in at home, but that all of us are called to be part of in God's family where we are all responsible for one another. As the Lewins and the Baileys express their own commitment to helping Kendrick grow both physically and spiritually, and ask for God's help, they will know that we are all part of what they are about to undertake, because if it takes a village to raise a child, surely it takes a church to raise a Christian! All of that leads us back to looking at what today's Scriptures have to say about being a child of God, because I think these will be important messages for all of us – for Kendrick most of all, though he will have to learn what they mean from the way we live out our relationships with God. First off, there's the message of the Old Testament prophets. Jeremiah speaks God's word saying “I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” So often we think of God in the Old Testament as the warrior god, or the king, or the judge. But Jeremiah is not the only prophet to speak of God as a loving and tender parent. One of my favourite images from the Bible comes from Hosea, who pictures God holding our hands as though we were toddlers learning how to walk! And how true that is, spiritually, even for those of us who think we are all grown up – we keep falling down or bumping into things or getting into mischief, and God is always there to pick us up again and to teach us a better way. Then there is the wonderful idea in Ephesians that God has destined us for adoption as his children. This is not to say we haven't always belonged to God. But it's a way of saying that we don't really know anything like what being children of God really could mean until we see Jesus, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, revealed to us at Christmas. Amazing as that is, there's a whole fresh dimension of it that we are just beginning to turn our hearts and minds to: the relationship that God has with his own Son is now something he wants to adopt every one of us into. Christmas is not just about God saying, see what I can do – God is saying to each of us, see who you can be! I want you to be my child too: I want my love and my Spirit to be in you just as it is in Christ. And the Gospel of John picks up that theme. Most of the time when I hear those verses from John, my attention is all on the amazing message, “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” For many Christians, and I would count myself among them, this is the heart of God's story for us. But it doesn't stop there – it can't stop there. John reminds us that when God's Son was born into the world, the consequences rippled outward to everyone. People had to make a choice. The birth of Christ isn't a beautiful painting you can stand back and admire. It's God's story for you, and it's up to you whether to let God tell that story in you or not. John tells us that so many of the people closest to Jesus did not accept him. But “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” This isn't about who you are, or what you've done, or even how good you've been. It's about accepting a gift from God – a gift so precious, so costly, that you know you don't deserve it and you're maybe even scared to accept it. A gift that changes your life because it means that you are loved more than you will ever be able to understand. That's the gift of being children of God, chosen by God to be his sons and daughters along with Jesus. That's the gift God has in mind for Kendrick, and the best way for any of us to help him see that is to realize that it's also the gift God has in mind for us. It will take our whole lives and more, to discover what that means for us, but we start today, by saying to God each in our own way, “Thank you.” *
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