About a boy who didn’t want to be baptized
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (June 23, 2024) at St.James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669. Storm on the Sea of Galilee, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
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Edited Transcript
May only truth be spoken here, and only truth be heard, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated.
I was away last week. I had the most wonderful retreat, an eight-day silent retreat, which I'll be happy to tell you more about at any time if you're curious. The retreat was at a Catholic retreat center and every day there would be a worship service with holy communion. After being there for six days, I missed our Episcopal liturgy. And so on Sunday, I snuck off and I went to the local Episcopal church.
I was so excited when I got there because there was going to be a baptism that day! It was a little seaside church, in a little building. About half the pews were full of the family of the candidate for baptism. He was four years old and wearing a little blazer, a little bow tie. He was so cute and sitting quietly in the pew.
The priest gave a wonderful homily. She talked to us about some of the history of baptism in our church. She explained that we people who desire to be baptized at any age. She talked about how baptism has been understood by the Church through history.
She reminded us that in the early church, only adults were baptized and they went through a three year period of study before they were considered ready to make that commitment. And then at the Easter vigil in the night, they would be baptized. And only then could they stay for communion. Until a person was baptized, when it came time to begin the celebration of communion, folks who weren't baptized had to leave the church. You had to be initiated through water and the Holy Spirit into this mystery in order to partake of communion of Christ.
And she explained to us how that began to shift over during the medieval period when there was a greater emphasis on St. Augustine's doctrine of original sin. And people started to worry, what happens to my child if they aren't baptized? And so baptism came earlier and earlier and et cetera.
It was great homily. And she concluded by saying, what we've come to understand now is that there's only one criteria for being baptized. What is it? The desire to be baptized!
And parents can take that upon themselves for children and adults can have that desire, but that's the one criteria: desire. And the whole church said, mmm-hmm, so well said!
And the priest went to the font and she said, the candidate for Holy Baptism will now be presented. This is the time when the candidate and their parents and godparents come up and say vows. And there was a piercing shout.
I! don't! want! to!
The whole church froze.
This has never happened before.
Mother Meredith is like, Thank God, I'm on vacation!
And it did not stop. There was the pulling out of the pew and the picking up and the carrying and the struggling. And finally the priest said, maybe he needs a little break.
So the parents took him outside and the priest realized, oops, we need one parent here to make these vows! So she goes out, gets one parent to come back in... Meanwhile, outside you could hear, I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to!
And I am praying. I'm praying: Thank God this isn't me. Thank God. Thank you Lord!
I'm praying, asking, what is the right thing to do here? I mean, she just said, "desire to be baptized." That's the criteria.
So we baptize infants and we baptize adults, but we don't baptize toddlers anymore.
And I was asking myself, what would I do if this was me? Would I say, oh, maybe we need to reconsider this... Let's take time. Let's postpone. We'll continue with the holy communion. We can renew our vows together. All kinds of thinking. And mostly I was just praying, God, your will be done.
Like we do when there's a great storm and we're kind of powerless and we don't know what to do. We just say, God, you love this child. You love everyone in this church. Please do whatever it is that you're going to do. Let the right thing be done. Let this child know that you love him. Let this child know that the church loves him. Whatever happens.
And he did not stop. He screamed through the examination. He screamed through the renewal of vows. He screamed through the prayers for the candidates. And I thought, oh, is she going to go through with this, my Lord?
And then it came time for the baptism.
By then the little boy, his name was Jax, and he had been dragged back into the church and the priest comes over to the font, and she says, I need help.
She said, I need help. I need all the kids who are here to come to the font and I need you to help me bless this water. Can all the kids come and put your hands in the water?
And so the little cousins came, and the kids who were on their beach vacation and visiting came up, and all the kids put their hands in the water.
And then she said to the unhappy candidate for baptism, Jax, can you help too? Can you put your hand in the water?
And he was still, he was quiet and he put his hand in the water. And then she said, the blessing over the water, which recalls all the power of water, but even more the power of God to work through water. And all the children had their hands in and Jax had his hand in.
And the storm that had been filling the space was gone. The church was still. The little boy was still. And there was only the sound of the prayer.
And then she said, Jax, do you want to be baptized?
And he said, yes.
And so she baptized him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And I was like [mimes tears streaming down face].
Whatever the storms are in our lives... the deep emotions that rock our worlds, or the anger or the fear or the pain or the suffering or the grief... Jesus is speaking a word into those storms. Speaking a blessing.
The word is peace.
Peace, be still.
It's the same word that was spoken in that church and it was in every heart.
I want you to remember that because inevitably you're going to be swamped. Your boat is going to rock, and you are going to look around and you're going to say, don't you care that we are perishing?
And Jesus says, peace, be still. Peace. It's the peace that passes understanding.
And as we remember that, remember too that we are people who are called to make an invitation to people whose lives are rocked by storms. Will you put your hand in the water? Will you come close? Will you find that peace, that stillness, that we know.
We are called to offer that invitation. When we have the peace of Christ in our heart, we can invite others to know that peace in theirs.
"Peace. Be still. Know that I am God." Amen.