The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost-The Rev Melanie Lemburg
The Very Rev Melanie Dickson Lemburg
21st
Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 23B
October 13, 2024
A
letter to Ollie and Ian Hartley upon the occasion of their baptism.
Dear
Ollie and Ian,
Today is a big day in your lives and in
the life of this church; it is the day that you are being baptized. Your dad tells me that ever since you first
attended St. Thomas, you have known that this is your church, and I think that
just as you’ve known you belong here, we’ve known that, too. And today, that becomes official!
The other day, we met and talked about
baptism, and I told you some really important things that I’m going to say
again here today so that you can remember them, and we can all help you
remember.
Before you boys were born (9 and 6 years
ago), God created you and made you good.
God has loved you since even before you were born, and God has said of
each of you, “you are my beloved.” You are
and always will be God’s beloved, and nothing can change that. Today, all of us together are saying along
with you: Yes! Ollie and Ian are God’s beloved! (And y’all are saying it too: Yes! I am God’s beloved!) You are saying that you want to try to live
your lives as God’s beloved. Your family
is saying that they will help you live your lives as God’s beloved. And we your church are saying that we will
help you live as God’s beloved. It’s
wonderful being God’s beloved, but it’s not easy. That’s why we need each other so much. We help each other remember what it means to
live as God’s beloved, and we encourage each other to do that.
Living as God’s beloved means that we
treat everyone with love, kindness, respect; we work to try to treat other
people how we ourselves want to be treated.
It means that when we make mistakes and hurt someone, we try to make
things right with them. It means that we
commit to gathering together regularly for worship and praying together and
listening to bible stories and having communion. And it means that we try to share the good
news of God’s belovedness with everyone we encounter out in the world beyond
this place. You’ve seen some of that
already in the lessons you learn in children’s chapel, in Vacation Bible
School, and in your friendships with the other children here.
We’ll help you and you’ll help us to
remember that we are always God’s beloved and this is the heart of what it
means to be the Church. You’ve already
helped me remember this just this week.
When you asked me if you could dunk your whole heads in the baptism font
at your baptism, it helped me remember the call to belong to God isn’t always
neat and tidy but sometimes is messy and demands our whole body, our whole
selves. When you asked me if I thought
the church would cheer for you after you are baptized, I thought, well, we
certainly should, because how better could we show you how joyful we are about
your belonging.
Our job today and beyond is to help you
remember that you belong to God—and there is absolutely nothing that can ever change
that. From this day forward, you will be
“marked as Christ’s own forever.”
We see the truth of this in our readings
for today—when Job has lost absolutely everything, Job still belongs to God;
God is with Job even when Job can’t feel God.
When the young man comes to Jesus, eager to prove himself, telling Jesus
he already follows all of the commandments, Mark tells us Jesus looks at the
man and loves him, and then tells him to go sell all that he owns and follow Jesus. Jesus is reminding the young man that no
matter what he might give up or lose, nothing can change the fact that he is
beloved of God. That is essence of what it means to follow Jesus.
And so, Ian and Ollie, yes we will cheer
today after you are baptized. And we’ll
cheer for you and support you all along the way, just as you will do for us.
Welcome to the family of God!
Your
Sister in Christ,
Melanie+
The
Big Question this Week: Imagine what it might be like if you gave away or lost
your income, insurance, savings, home, and possessions. Who would you still be? What would you have left? How might this imagining invite you to see
your life, your worth, and your relationship with God differently? Or think
about a time in your life when you suffered a life-changing loss (relationship,
job, person, possessions). And think
about the questions above in light of that experience.
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