The
Baptism of Christ
10th January 2010 9:00am & 11:45am
Preacher: The Revd Peter Koon
Today
we celebrate the baptism of the Lord, every year when we celebrate this feast day, it always reminds us of our own baptism. There are many offices that people can
hold in the Church. But all of
these pale when compared to the basic gift to all: baptism. When we stand before the throne of God,
these other offices will be of no importance. Our dignity will depend on one thing
only – the extent to which we have lived out our baptismal calling.
The service of baptism
is a beautiful one. In it we were
formally given a name and welcomed into the family of God’s people, prayers
were said over us. Our head was
signed with the sign of the cross, the mark of Christ’s love for us. Water was poured over our head, this is
a symbol of cleansing, and in baptism we are cleansed of sin. But it is more especially a symbol of
life. In baptism we are given a
share in the undying life of God.
Our bodies were
anointed with holy oil, just as kings, prophets and priests were anointed with
oil and thus marked out as God’s ministers to the community, so we are anointed
with the oil of chrism that we may be envoys of Christ in the world.
We
were given a candle lighted from the Easter candle to signify the precious
light of faith. God called us out
of darkness into the wonderful light of his Son.
What happened at the
baptism of Jesus happened at our baptism too. God called us by name. He said to each of us, ‘You are my
beloved son,’ or ‘You are my beloved daughter.’ And the Spirit descended on us, in order
to help us to live the life of Christian and to participate in the mission of
Jesus.
From a spiritual point
of view, baptism is the greatest thing that can happen to us. To be baptised is to be christened, that is, to be made like
Christ. But this doesn’t happen
automatically as a result of being baptised. One has to learn what it means to be a
Christian, and to grown into it.
This is the task of a lifetime.
Towards the end of his life a saint was asked if he was a Christian, and
he replied, ‘not yet.’
There are many
vocations in the Church. At present
the Church is very preoccupied with vocations, but vocation here is understood
in a very limited sense, when we talking about vocation, we were basically
talking about a vocation to the priesthood. While this is important, it is by
no means the most important vocation in the Church. The first and most
important vocation is that which is common to all the baptised, namely, the
Christian vocation, every other vocation in the Church must be seen in relation
to this one.
Yet the sad fact is
that many of the baptised live no differently from the non-baptised, even
worse. Cardinal Newman once asked his congregation: ‘What difference does being
a Christian make in the way we live our daily lives?’ The conclusion he came
was: ‘I fear the most of us would go on almost as we do, if we believed
Christianity to be nothing more than a fable.’
The Christian vocation
is about how to live and not just about what to believe, our faith has to be
translated into action.
Every time we enter a
church, we see the baptismal font or traditionally we sign ourselves with holy
water that reminding ourselves of our baptism, and committing ourselves to live
up to it. To live one’s baptism is
to live as a disciple of Jesus. Amen.