Psalm 25

1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. 6 Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord! 8 Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

Matthew 21.23-32

23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Spoken words for “Welcome with water” for a Baptism by Rev. KellyAnn Donahue

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Jesus was teaching in the temple of Jerusalem. The chief priests and elders interrupted his class and asked him who had given him the authority, the right, to teach there. They certainly had not sent him in to teach anything. They may also have been speaking about the healing that Jesus did, or about his arrival in Jerusalem, greeted by cheering crowds. These men were leaders and had authority and power within the Jerusalem Temple system. Jesus had not come up through that system. Jesus answered the question with a question back to the priests and elders. He asked them about the baptisms that John had performed.

 

The leaders discussed how to answer Jesus. They could say that the baptism came from heaven. That answer would lead Jesus to ask them why they had not believed that John had been sent by God. Everyone knew these men did not accept John as being from God. This would be an uncomfortable answer for them. They reject it. If they said that John baptized as a man, and not as one sent by God, the leaders feared protests from the many followers of John. So they reject that answer, too. The leaders finally said to Jesus, “We do not know”.

 

Jesus did not give up on them; he tried again to reach them. He told them a short parable. A father asks his sons to work in the vineyard. One son says he won’t do it, but changed his mind, and then did go to work for his father. The other son said he would work, and did not show up to work. Jesus asks the leaders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” Now they get it right. They said that the first son, the one who changed his mind and his behavior, did the will of his father.

 

Now, that same question of authority could be asked about me. It could be asked about the baptism we celebrate today. Who gives me the authority to baptize anyone? What does a little water on a forehead mean? Where is God and where are people in the sacrament of baptism? The United Church of Christ has granted me an ordination, which means I passed all the requirements to be a minister in one of their member churches. There were classes, written papers, questions in person, a psychological profile, a background check, church internships and some time as a hospital chaplain. The church offices in state of Vermont and Orange County have recognized all that work and my beliefs, and granted me the authority, and the honor of being able to baptize. The United Church of Christ allows me to perform the same ritual that John the Baptist did, the same work that Jesus was speaking of in our words from Matthew.

 

I used water to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The water did not come from a faraway place. It came from right here, from our well on this property, from rain water that found its way into that well, from water trapped by rocks. God created the water, whether is it from underground or from the sky. All of you stood with me as we blessed it. We all asked God to make the water special for today, to welcome a child into our church family here at East Corinth, and into other Christian churches, too. He is welcomed by water. He is welcomed by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

 

The church uses certain words to describe the meaning of baptism. Here is a summary of those words from a booklet on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry. God bestows on all baptized persons the anointing and the promise of the Holy Spirit. God marks them with a seal and implants in their hearts the first steps toward eternal life. In these first steps are the gifts of faith, hope and love. Baptism is a washing away of sin. It gives us the strength to resist sin in the future. Baptism has a dynamic which embraces the whole of life, extends to all nations and helps us care for others.

 

A baptized person belongs to the Christian community, and now this child belongs to our church family. As John Swinton said, “But a person can very easily be in the congregation and not of it! Inclusion is not enough; people need to belong. To be included, one just needs to be there; to belong, one needs to be missed. To belong, others need to long for us to be back among them like the father longed for the return of his prodigal son in the story found in Luke 15:11-31.”

 

God always longs for us; always loves us. And we will always long for the company, health and happiness of this child and his family. We celebrate that this child is baptized into our church, with God’s love as well as ours. We offer him and his family our love and care, always. We offer him lessons from our Bible, our experiences and our faith. Lessons on how to be a person of faith and care, a person who loves and forgives as Jesus taught us. We offer him the welcome of this community, and the chance to serve it. May we all strive to love others as God loves us.

 

© Rev KellyAnn Donahue