8th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13C

8th Sunday after Pentecost—Proper 13C July 31, 2022 A letter to William Fort Strickland upon the occasion of his baptism Dear Fort, Today is an important day in your young life. Today is the day upon which you are baptized into Christ’s body. Today is the day when you will be sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. Today, your parents and godparents and family are accepting, on your behalf, that you already belong to God. They are offering God thanks for your belonging, and we are all making promises that we will walk with you, teach you and learn from you about what it means to live as those who always belong to God, no matter what. Our reading from Colossians for today is all about baptism. In and through our baptism, we believe that we are buried with Christ in his death and raised with Christ into new life. The writer of Colossians is urging the faithful to live as those with new life, to seek the things that are above, setting our minds on things that are above and not on the things that are from earth. The author then gives a list of what not to do as the baptized followers of Jesus; we are called to put to death that which is in us that tends toward fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed/idolatry and to get rid of anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language and lies. We are called to clothe ourselves with our new self- which is reminiscent of the image and likeness of God our creator, and we are called to deepen in the ways that we dwell within Christ. It’s interesting, sweet Fort, that the writer gives us a list of how not to live, what not to do as the baptized members of the body of Christ; but we are not given a list of what to do, how to live. Thankfully, we have our baptismal covenant to rely on for that, which gives us guidelines on what to do/how to live. In and through our baptismal covenant, we promise to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. We promise to persevere in resisting evil and when we do fall into sin to repent and return to the Lord. We promise to proclaim the good news of God in Christ by both word and example; to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being. These are good guidelines for how to live, Fort, and they are a part of the tradition that your family, godparents, and us, your church family, are all promising to model for you as you grow among us. But there’s another lesson in our scriptures today for all of us. It’s found in the gospel parable of a rich man who seeks to preserve what he has built up for himself in this life. As another writer put it, “let’s look at the story—what’s in it? There are crops, an abundance of crops, barns, business planning, success. The man even has a soul, you know, because he talks to it: “Soul, you have ample goods…relax, eat drink, be merry.” Pretty much the American Dream, complete. What’s not in this story? There is nobody else in the story. No one. Just the rich man and his thoughts for his own security and comfort.”i We need each other, Fort, to be truly fulfilled, to truly live the Christian life. We need the lessons that we can teach each other, lessons about forgiveness when we don’t deserve it or haven’t asked for it, lessons about how to offer mercy and compassion and kindness in a world that is so quick to anger and take offense and blame. This Christian way of life is not easy, so we walk this way together, gathering week after week to support each other, to be fed and strengthened to go back out into the world to try again the next week. You will have much to teach us in the coming years, Fort, and we look forward to walking this way with you. Your sister in Christ, Melanie+ i. From a teaser from Andrew Kadel’s sermon for Trinity Morrisania for today.