Abide in me

Abide in me and I in you
In all that you say in all you do
Remember to cling to the one who
truly loves you
Abide in me and I in you
Remember to love the way I do
For in me you have life ever more
For in me you have life ever more

I remember one time preaching for a baptism.

It was just two weeks after a massive tsunami hit Indonesia with all the death and destruction it brought with it. It was a constant story in the media.

It was distressing to me to be preaching about baptismal waters when so many people were suffering because of water.

I remember an image on CNN of military personnel handing out bottled water to survivors.

It was such an irony that the very thing that brought death and destruction – water – was also a source of life to them – they needed it to survive.

So it is with the waters of baptism – there is a death in them.

There is a dying to everything that would keep us from experiencing the life of God to the full.

But more importantly – the waters of our baptism are the source of life for us.

In the waters of baptism we discover the truth – we are a child of God, the beloved, a member of God’s family.

As the gospel reminds us – we are branches of God’s family tree. And we need to stay connected to that vine to live.

And as we come up out of the water, or as the last drops of baptismal water are wiped from our brow, we are anointed with oil with these words:

You are sealed with the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.

Just as the Māori of New Zealand mark their faces with tattoos to identify them as members of a particular tribe and family – in our baptism, we are marked with our own tribal tattoo – the sign of the cross.

We belong to a particular tribe and family and this tattoo of the cross on our forehead proves it.

We acknowledge that we are part of God’s family and we want to learn to live that way.

The members of this family of God, this tribe, see themselves and others, and the world in a particular kind of way that is unique to them.

First – we know ourselves to be the Beloved of God.

In the family of God there is no need to prove we are worth something.

As Henri Nouwen reminds us in his book Life of the Beloved – we don’t have to do something relevant or spectacular or powerful in order to be loved by God.

Our belovedness is not earned – it is given as a gift.

Oh, there are other voices who will try to convince us otherwise – you are stupid, you don’t count, you won’t amount to anything, you are unlovable.

Sometimes that voice is our own.

But the truth is, God has loved us since time began:

- in the womb

- carved in the palm of God’s hand

- called by name

- loved with infinite tenderness, the way a mother loves her child

- where we go, God goes

- nothing can separate us

The truth is we are the beloved in whom God is pleased – warts and all

The Second way that God’s tribe see things a bit differently is that we understand that our family is always bigger than we imagine.

Mother Teresa was interviewed and asked, “What’s the biggest problem in the world today?”

She didn’t hesitate – she said, “We draw the circle of our family too small. We need to draw it larger every day.”

In God’s family, the moment we draw a circle so that we are on the inside and those people over there are on the outside, God says, “Draw your circle bigger.”

Lastly, the tribe of God recognizes that our work in the world is to bring about God’s brand of justice in the world.

That means bringing about respect and equality for those who are weak and fragile and marginalized.

It means tenderly caring for the bruised reeds and the barely smoldering wicks of the world.

It means opening the eyes of the blind, freeing prisoners, feeding the hungry.

It means to love with steadfast love.

This justice is brought about gently, carefully, caringly, and often inconspicuously.

In many quiet ways, the people of God work, often behind the scenes, and out of the spotlight, to be kindlers of the fire for those who have lost hope.

This is our identity as members of God’s tribe.

This is what our tattoo signifies.

And with our baptismal vows we promise to live this way but always, always we add after the promise we make – I will with God’s help.

It is impossible to fulfill our promises without God’s help.

Today we have renewed our vows. May we hold in our hearts the words: “I will with God’s help.”

O God we need you.