2 Easter & Baptism of Mel Pey: Drenched in God’s love

Lectionary: Lectionary: Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31

St. Teresa of Avila, 16th-century Spanish mystic, wrote a prayer that I think is familiar to most of us: 

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless [people] now.”

This prayer speaks to us about how we witness our faith. Ours is an embodied faith, not a faith of thoughts or doctrines, but a living, breathing, acting faith.

Christians are, by definition, a community, the body of Christ. We are made in the image of God, who is also a community - The Trinity who lives in Unity.

In today’s gospel, Thomas is absent from his community when Jesus makes his first post-resurrection appearance to them. Thomas’ path is one that needs proof - so God provides it.

This story is important because it demonstrates three very important lessons for us: 

1) that God accepts us where we are and leads us to where we need to be; 

2) that there are many ways to come to faith and many ways to live faithfully;

3) that God is present in the gathered community.

Notice that Jesus didn’t get mad at Thomas for doubting. Instead, he came back and invited Thomas to come into his presence to confront his doubt - to go fully into it – not to deny it or avoid it or be ashamed of it. Come close, Jesus said. Touch me. Be with me.

And no one kicked Thomas out of the disciples club for not believing right. They preserved their friendship with him, keeping him part of the community, while God did the rest.

Whether or not we ever “see” Jesus will depend upon how accessible we make ourselves to God throughout our lives and how God wishes to work in us. Some will know about Jesus from earliest childhood. We often witness a deep, abiding faith in children.

Others will have resurrection experiences, like Theresa of Avila, who saw visions of Christ in his bodily form, or John Wesley, whose heart was strangely warmed when he encountered the presence of Jesus in prayer, much like those disciples who encountered Christ on the road to Damascus. Others will say they never experience the presence of God. They don’t “see” Jesus. To them, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

In writings discovered after her death, St. Teresa of Calcutta confessed living most of her life in a dark night – a state of feeling totally absent of the presence of God. She struggled to believe, yet never stopped serving because it’s what her faith demanded of her. And how well did she serve?!? She drew close to the poor and touched them, saying, “In the face of each of these I serve, I see the face of Jesus.” It seems to me she was in the presence of God in Christ - all the time.

In our Collect today, we asked God to help us “show forth in our lives what we profess in our faith.” So we must ask ourselves: what do we believe?... and do we truly believe what we profess in our faith? …and if we can’t believe it, do we live it?...

We have opportunities all the time. For example, what do we say when people ask us about the presidential election, or laws up for consideration by our legislators? I’m not going to talk politics, but I am going to ask: Do we witness to our Baptismal Covenant in response? Think about this as we renew our Baptismal Covenant today,

What about when we’re out in the world and we’re with someone who says they don’t believe in God? What do they learn about God by being with us… by watching us live our lives? How will what we do, what we say, and how we live influence Mel, who will be baptized today?

As witnesses, we are called to be the presence of Christ in the world. His presence in us empowers us to accept people where they are, and gently place them in the presence of God, who will lead them into all truth.

Today, we welcome young Mel Pey and his family to this gathered community at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. We know that Mel will have his own path of faith to learn and to live, and we commit to being with him as friends to support him along his way.

We commit to making opportunities for Mel to encounter the grace of God through Christian formation, children’s choir, and other ministries that strengthen his faith, so that when he doubts (and he will doubt), we can respond to Mel as tenderly as Jesus responds to Thomas, drawing near to him with assurance and steadfast love.

Together with Mel and his family, we at Emmanuel are Christ’s hands in the world today – hands that reach out to catch someone who is falling, even when that means sacrificing our own comfort for their sake.

We are Christ’s feet in the world today – feet that will go to those places where hope needs to be spoken and compassion needs to be given. Feet that will walk willingly into the darkness of someone’s nightmare, confident that we are bearers of the light of Christ.

We are the body of Christ in the world today, members of the communion of saints, and members of one another.

In the Episcopal Church, we talk about Christian Formation as being like a cup of tea. The more it steeps, the richer the flavor. In other words, bring the kiddos to church. They soak up more than we realize.

I close with this poem from the book “Episcopal Haiku” (p. 42): 

A little girl drops 

her wafer in the wine. She’s 

soaking up God’s grace. 

Let’s baptize Mel, then, so he can soak up the grace of God; and let’s drench ourselves in God’s love, so that we all can show forth in our lives what we believe. Amen.