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Sermon June 9, 2019
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Pentecost, Year C
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CPentDay_RCL.html
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…. Romans 8:15-16
You’ve heard me say that one of my favorite parts of our liturgy is the lead-in to The Lord’s Prayer. The words, “And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say….”
What is so bold about The Lord’s Prayer? Many of us learn it as a child. We hear it every week and sometimes more than that if we participate in other services. The Lord’s Prayer is in every service and devotion in the Book of Common Prayer. The prayer is so dear to us. Not only because it was taught to us by Jesus, but also because of the truly beautiful and perfect way it describes our relationship with God.
The boldness that we need to be reminded of each time we say it, is that we call God Our Father! Jesus taught us that God is not some distant figure, mostly uninvolved with our lives here on earth. That was how many religious systems operated. The gods had their own world, almost like a soap opera going on. Humans were supposed to provide honor and tribute.
But Jesus teaching us that God is our parent, that God is that perfect parent. God gave birth to us and is there to guide us in every way. It is a close, intimate relationship. Even when our own parents have failed us or when even we at times have not been the best parents, God is the perfect parent.
That also means we as a faith community are brothers and sisters. We are all related! What a huge family we have. Not only right here on a Sunday morning, but also with others who are following God.
In our faith tradition, we have a very special way of inviting people in to our family…that is through the ceremony of baptism.
Today Glenn Scott, Ava Beth, and Oscar Glenn join our family. They have chosen to especially be brothers and sister with us. They have chosen to join our family right here in Newport.
How wonderful that they have chosen us.
As they are baptized, we are also reminded of our own promises at baptism. We are reminded how we are family and how we are related. And we are excited, because now there are more of us to live out those promises.
Scott, Ava and Oscar bring their gifts to our community. They bring their time, their talents, and their treasure. Our family is different.
Most of us know what it is like to add new members to the family, because we do it each time a child is born…ask the Day family this week. We do it when people get married and because part of our family or maybe when a brother or sister is born or when someone is adopted into our family. The family changes and shifts. Something new is added and we must adjust.
The adjustment can be challenging. The newer members may have different ideas about how we need to live together or worship God together or do God’s work together. Sometimes the new ideas are exciting and we are enthusiastic. Sometimes the new ideas are not comfortable for us.
Again, we know this because we know the ups and downs within our own families. We are called to work through our differences.
God is the parent of all of us! God cares for each and every one of us. Each and every one of us has chosen to be part of this small piece of the whole family of God. We have chosen to come together regularly…to support each other….to study the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles together…to live in the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement…to love each other as God has loved us…to work together to serve Christ in all persons…to reject evil and to repent when we have fallen into evil…to praise and thank God together…to share the Eucharistic meal or communion with each other.
Because we know God’s grace and we know that God forgives us, we show that grace and forgiveness to each other. We build each other up.
We have not received a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, we have received a spirit of adoption. We are able to cry out, Abba! Father…Our Father… and to join together because we are all children of God.
Amen
