The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost-The Rev Melanie Lemburg

 20^th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 23A

October 15, 2023

 

A letter to Lily Lynn Calver upon the occasion of her baptism.

 

Dear Lily,

        Today is an exciting day for you and for us, your community of faith.  Today, your parents and your godparents are taking an important step on your behalf in your life of faith.  Today we all are saying yes to the fact that God has already claimed you as God’s beloved; we are reinforcing what God has already proclaimed over you, that you will always have a place of belonging in the Kingdom of God, that God has created you to be in full and joyful relationship with God, with God’s people, and with all of God’s creation.  Today we say yes to all of that for you, and we also promise that we will help you remember that belonging, that belovedness as you grow here in your life and in your faith. 

        Today, we will reaffirm our own belonging and belovedness alongside you.  We will do what we can to remember our own baptism and the promises that we made or that were made for us on how we would try to live as God’s beloved. Today we hear the echo of the words that were said over each one of us as I say them to you: “you are marked as Christ’s own forever.”  And we feel the truth of that love of God deep in our bones, a love that has shown through Jesus’s death and resurrection that God’s love is stronger than absolutely anything, even death.  We remember that being marked as Christ’s own forever means that there is nothing that any of us can do that will put us outside of God’s love.

        And yet, even on this glorious day, our gospel reading gives us glimpses of violence and horror.  It’s a story that Jesus tells in the temple in Jerusalem just days before his own death, a story that is meant “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”[i]  It’s a story that leaves me with so many questions:  Why do the original guests say that they will attend this royal wedding banquet but then refuse to go?  Why is the guest who is at the banquet not wearing the appropriate clothes?  What are the ways that each one of us rejects our own belonging in the Kingdom of God?  And how might our baptismal vows serve as reminds to us of how to live more fully into our belonging?

        It’s hard to fathom for you now, sweet Lily, so beloved by your family, so cherished by this faith community, but just like each of us, at some point, you will taste what it feels like to not belong.  Sometimes we are put in that position by others; but much of the time, we choose to reject our own belonging. Maybe it’s because we don’t feel worthy?  Maybe it’s because we give ourselves over to deliberate distractions from the love of God.  We choose other gods to worship or create idols because it’s easier than being in relationship with God and each other.  We fall into petty conflicts like Euodia and Syntyche, and we forget the common work that God calls us to do together—to spread the good news of God’s love, to help extend the circle of belonging beyond our midst and out into a needy and hurting world.  In so many ways, we reject our belonging and the belonging of others over and over again. 

        So, we gather here to remember.  To be forgiven of our rejection and to forgive. To taste that belonging again at God’s altar. And to be sent out into the world for another week to try to live our lives as those who belong to God, as God’s beloved.

        Our epistle reading for today gives us a glimpse on one practice that we can employ in between Sundays, to try to help us stay grounded in our being as God’s beloved, those who belong to God.  It is the spiritual practice of rejoicing, of giving thanks.  When my children were little, we had a nightly bed-time ritual of naming three things for which we were grateful.  And even on the days when I was feeling exhausted and not particularly grateful, I knew that my children would ask me to name those three things, and so I would pay attention.  And often that paying attention to the places in my day where I could find a small taste of joy was enough to remind me of my belonging in the heart of God. 

        Today, sweet Lily, we, your family, promise to help you learn how to rejoice, to help you remember your belonging when you fall away from it.  In order to do that, we have to practice it in our own lives as well. 

        We encourage one another to be reconfirmed in our own belonging through our own baptism and to practice rejoicing daily in intentional ways. 

       

Today, sweet Lily, I am thankful for you, for the family who cherishes you, for your sweet baby assurance of your belonging in this community already, and that we will be able to walk this path alongside you as you live and grow.

Your sister in Christ,

Melanie+

 

The Big Question this Week: In our baptism, we say yes to God’s call to us as God’s beloved, and we pledge to live our lives as those who belong to God, marked as Christ’s own forever.  Consider the ways that you have recently rejected your own belonging in the heart of God.  Name three things for which you rejoice or are grateful.  Try making this a daily practice this week at the end of each day.

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[i] This is what Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine says is what Jesus’ parables are meant to do.