| March 24 2005 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK Exodus 12:1-8,11-14 + 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 + John 13:1-15 I was reading recently about Martin Luther King. It seems that there were times in his life when discouragement was overwhelming, when·the attacks of people upon his intentions, reputation, and efforts at human rights were ridiculed; when he was• threatened and cursed, humiliated and reviled. When the experience of helplessness and hopelessness would haunt his days and nights, he would often repeat to himself over and over again the words: “I am Baptized.·I am Baptized. I am Baptized.” The reminder would renew him, restore his dignity, his vision, hope, and courage. Such a reminder is good of us as well, especially now as we assemble here the next three night to celebrate and be renewed by the Paschal Feast. When the Israelites would find the going tough in the desert, Moses would remind them of what had happened and what God had done for them. To make certain that they would never forget, every year they ate the food, told’the story, and shared the blessing prayers that delivered them and bound them to God and God to them. We continue to do the same thing. We get discouraged and we fail to live as disciples of Jesus. We grumble. We doubt, and we get afraid. We find ourselves helpless and sometimes hopeless in the face of evil. Sometimes we even do forget long enough to lose ourselves, our dignity, and our identity with the result that no one would have any reason to suspect that we too are “followers of that man.” But tonight, tomorrow, and the next, we shall go into a tomb of sorts in order to come out in glory with the dawn of Easter We are Baptized! The eternal reality of this fact does not allow us to give up, give in, or forget. We are Baptized, and so we get on our knees and wash feet because we are no greater than our master, and He taught us well. We are Baptized, and so we give and give and give to care for the poor who have no one to look to except us just as they looked to our master We are Baptized, and so we want nothing more than to fulfill the Father’s Will and see that everyone knows the healing and all embracing love that prompted the Son of God to leave the Father and bring us home. We are Baptized, and so the covenant symbols of Christ’s Body and Blood are precious to us, sacred and powerful to bind us together and hold us in unity Before them, fall on our knees just as we kneel before each other, but in those symbols the divine and the human are in Covenant are in Communion: Holy Communion, and the Incarnation is fulfilled. What we have to remember is too much for one night. The story is too long, the meaning is too great to ponder in just this hour. And so we shall do it tomorrow and the next day because we are Baptized, because what we celebrate is not simply something that happened in the past a long time ago, but something that continues to happen as we die and rise with Christ and iive .in His presence, His peace, and His love. Nothing should keep us quiet tonight. Nothing should keep us away tomorrow and the next. Nothing should keep us from the holiness to which we are called, because we are Baptized, washed in blood·,washed in water, and washed -in the Spirit of new and everlasting life. When you get lazy, when you get tired, when you get discouraged, when you get alone, and when you get helpless; it is time to remember: we are Baptized. We have a claim.on God, we have a share in His power, in His glory, and.in His Life, now and forever. If you believ that, it is going to make a difference,· a big one, a lasting· one. |