“Beloved Children”
Preached Sunday, November 5, 2023 (All Saints)
Today is All Saints Sunday. A day in the Christian year where we recognize, remember, give thanks to God for those faithful persons who have died and gone on to be with God. We read the names, call to mind, honor those who are no longer with us, who, in their lives, showed us what it means to follow God, to know God, to love God.
These can be saints in the canonical sense as certain Christian sects are used to thinking of them. St. Peter, St. John, St. Augustine, St. Julian, St. Teresa, and so on and so forth. Honoring and remembering these saints as examples of what it looks like to whole- and full-heartedly love and follow God can be a worthwhile and beneficial part of our faith.
And, especially today, we are focusing more on the everyday people, those our paths have crossed with, those who were in our lives who shaped us, who loved God, loved us, and shared that love of God with us. I think of my grandmother and great-grandmother. Those who sat me on their knees and first shared the faith with me. Who sang hymns next to me in church. Who showed me what it looks like to love all your neighbors. I think of church members who showed me what it looked like to be faithful until the end, of having a faith big and brave enough to face hardship with hope, of having a faith generous and inclusive enough that all were welcomed in.
All of you have people, who through the way they lived, through the way they loved you, shared with you the love of God. Today, these are who we are referring to as the saints.
Through honoring and remembering these saints, we recognize that God’s love for these saints, and for us, extends beyond this life, beyond the grave. God’s love extends to these saints, and to us, to a place where there is no hunger, no thirst, no hardship, no tears, and no more death. A place where those saints are gathered now, in the presence of God, and someday, we too will be gathered there. We recognize that the saints, and us, in this life, and the life beyond, we are all beloved children of God.
Today we also did a baptism of a beloved child of God.
In certain Christian traditions, there are certain days that are set aside as preferred days for baptisms. These days are Easter, Pentecost, Baptism of the Lord, and…All Saints Day. Perhaps the first three days are obvious to us why they would be preferred days for baptisms. The Feast of Christ’s resurrection that we share in our baptism, the birth of the church which we are joining when baptized, the remembrance of Christ’s baptism as we too are baptized - these make obvious sense…but for many of us, All Saints Day may, at first, seem like an odd choice.
We are used to thinking about baptisms, and especially infant baptisms which we commonly do in The United Methodist Church, we are used to thinking of them as joyous and life-filled celebrations - which they are. And then we are used to thinking about All Saints as this somber, kind of morose day. They don’t mesh. And while there is a certain sadness to All Saints, there is also an immense sense of comfort, of hope, of assurance of love beyond the grave. As well as thanksgiving for all who have gone before. And in baptism, we claim the title of child of God. And in claiming that title, in claiming the identity of children of God, through baptism, we then die to all other identities - identities of sin, or evil, or any identity that would lessen as, that would attempt to claim us as anything less than the beloved children of God we are.
One of the ways I like to talk to parents about baptism is like signing the adoption papers. We know that all children are inherently, beloved children of God. In the sacrament of baptism we formalize that with a ritual, with the signing of the adoption papers. The person baptized or their parents sign the papers - that they will do their best to live as a child of God, that they would do their best to raise their child as a child of God, to teach them about God’s love that they would one day fully accept that identity for themselves. God signs the papers. And there is no trying with God - God always fully keeps God’s promises that this child is a beloved child of God. And then, the congregation signs the papers. That is, we make promises to surround the baptized with love, to share God’s love with them, to show them what it means and what it looks like to follow and love God. And when a specific congregation makes those promises, it’s specific for that child and that congregation but it’s also universal. We who are present for the baptism, sign those papers, make those promises, on behalf of Christians everywhere. That no matter where that child ends up, and no matter what children (young or old) come and go from our community, we - and all Christians everywhere - would share God’s love with all of them and be constant examples for them of love of God and love of neighbor.
We make those promises on behalf of all Christians. We welcome the baptized into the community of faith - not just Boardman UMC community of faith but the universal body of Christ - AND, that universal body of Christ doesn’t just include those who are living. It includes that great cloud of witnesses, the saints. The baptized is welcomed into Christian community - the community of the children of God, of the living saints *and* those who have died - who have passed on - saints in the presence of God, yes, *and* still children of God in God’s everlasting care. We, together, living and dead, are all children of God, all part of the same community to which the newly baptized is welcomed in.
And for those of us who are alive, we are called to be living saints - to claim the identity of children of God and the identity of saints together for ourselves...and then help others claim those identities. We are called to live life in such a way that, like those who we remember today who have gone before us, we will then show others the way to God with our lives. That we would be saints to the child we baptized today, all the children we have and ever will baptize, and really, to all people. That we would be saints. That we are the ones who - show, tell, share - that they, that all people, are also beloved children of God, loved so deeply by God that that holy, eternal love even extends beyond the grave.
Today, as we remember the saints, may their memories spur us on to live as living saints, to fulfill our baptismal promises, to fully live into our identities as beloved children of God, and through our lives, share that eternal, everlasting love, with every child of God.
May it be so. Amen.
In certain Christian traditions, there are certain days that are set aside as preferred days for baptisms. These days are Easter, Pentecost, Baptism of the Lord, and…All Saints Day. Perhaps the first three days are obvious to us why they would be preferred days for baptisms. The Feast of Christ’s resurrection that we share in our baptism, the birth of the church which we are joining when baptized, the remembrance of Christ’s baptism as we too are baptized - these make obvious sense…but for many of us, All Saints Day may, at first, seem like an odd choice.
We are used to thinking about baptisms, and especially infant baptisms which we commonly do in The United Methodist Church, we are used to thinking of them as joyous and life-filled celebrations - which they are. And then we are used to thinking about All Saints as this somber, kind of morose day. They don’t mesh. And while there is a certain sadness to All Saints, there is also an immense sense of comfort, of hope, of assurance of love beyond the grave. As well as thanksgiving for all who have gone before. And in baptism, we claim the title of child of God. And in claiming that title, in claiming the identity of children of God, through baptism, we then die to all other identities - identities of sin, or evil, or any identity that would lessen as, that would attempt to claim us as anything less than the beloved children of God we are.
One of the ways I like to talk to parents about baptism is like signing the adoption papers. We know that all children are inherently, beloved children of God. In the sacrament of baptism we formalize that with a ritual, with the signing of the adoption papers. The person baptized or their parents sign the papers - that they will do their best to live as a child of God, that they would do their best to raise their child as a child of God, to teach them about God’s love that they would one day fully accept that identity for themselves. God signs the papers. And there is no trying with God - God always fully keeps God’s promises that this child is a beloved child of God. And then, the congregation signs the papers. That is, we make promises to surround the baptized with love, to share God’s love with them, to show them what it means and what it looks like to follow and love God. And when a specific congregation makes those promises, it’s specific for that child and that congregation but it’s also universal. We who are present for the baptism, sign those papers, make those promises, on behalf of Christians everywhere. That no matter where that child ends up, and no matter what children (young or old) come and go from our community, we - and all Christians everywhere - would share God’s love with all of them and be constant examples for them of love of God and love of neighbor.
We make those promises on behalf of all Christians. We welcome the baptized into the community of faith - not just Boardman UMC community of faith but the universal body of Christ - AND, that universal body of Christ doesn’t just include those who are living. It includes that great cloud of witnesses, the saints. The baptized is welcomed into Christian community - the community of the children of God, of the living saints *and* those who have died - who have passed on - saints in the presence of God, yes, *and* still children of God in God’s everlasting care. We, together, living and dead, are all children of God, all part of the same community to which the newly baptized is welcomed in.
And for those of us who are alive, we are called to be living saints - to claim the identity of children of God and the identity of saints together for ourselves...and then help others claim those identities. We are called to live life in such a way that, like those who we remember today who have gone before us, we will then show others the way to God with our lives. That we would be saints to the child we baptized today, all the children we have and ever will baptize, and really, to all people. That we would be saints. That we are the ones who - show, tell, share - that they, that all people, are also beloved children of God, loved so deeply by God that that holy, eternal love even extends beyond the grave.
Today, as we remember the saints, may their memories spur us on to live as living saints, to fulfill our baptismal promises, to fully live into our identities as beloved children of God, and through our lives, share that eternal, everlasting love, with every child of God.
May it be so. Amen.
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