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A Baptismal Sermon for Alex Newby... Trinity 14: Sunday 28th August 2005
Exodus 3.1-15
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Romans
12.9-21
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Matthew 16.21-28 Set questions... Set answers ... you may recall last week how Jesus’ friend Peter was in the thick of things and doing really well: Jesus asked his disciples a “set question”: Who do people say I am? and they gave the perfect essay answer... “Some say this, others say that...” And you? says Jesus - and it’s Peter who blurts out the perfect answer and gets a Grade A:
Then this week it’s from the top of the class to the bottom! Jesus calls him “Satan!” (lit. ‘the adversary’ - the one who is opposed to God). Whoops! And why? because the way Peter wanted, the way that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, was all about taking the easy way. God’s way was the way of sacrifice, perseverance and commitment - the way of the cross... This is the way upon which Alex is embarking today. We will sign him with the mark of the cross, the sign of Christ, as a reminder that the way he will be treading will not be easy, it will be tough going... The cross: the heart of who we are
The cross in the gospel story
today was not necessarily a direct reference to Jesus’ death - Jesus wasn’t
the first or the last person to be killed in this barbaric manner - “taking
up one’s cross” was proverbial for suffering and agony. To be a Christian means putting Jesus first - following in his footsteps. It means making decisions based on what he wants, not on what we want.. there will be sacrifice involved. You may lose friends, you may be teased or thought to be mad, you might find it costs you financially ... you might find you have to give up a lie-in on a Sunday morning ... you might find there are things you have to do without in order to follow Jesus ... you will find that you have to struggle to work out God’s will in your life
... to be disciplined to say your prayers ... it means dying to sin and living for God... it will be a struggle ... trust me: I’ve been doing it for years... discipleship is not for the faint hearted. When Peter blurts out that Jesus should avoid the cross he is trying to have a theology of only grace and glory, and to separate Christ from his cross... Friday and Sunday....
There were reports on the TV news this week about the American mega-Churches of up to 10,000 people gathered in a baseball stadium... and it was the commentator putting the report together who suggested that the preaching and teaching at this mega-church was “theology lite” - that there was little or nothing about sin and responsibility, and much about success and the feel-good factor... If you take the cross out of Christianity, you no longer have Christianity. An advertiser’s nightmare... How about an advertising campaign for Christianity?... what could we say? -
Because it’s not easy to follow Jesus, to be a Christian, we need the support of others to help us: to show us the way, to walk with us, to encourage us, to pray for us, to be the answers to our prayers... and that’s what Church is about. Alex is being baptised into a family, admitted into the fellowship of the Church. And it will not be easy for him or his parents in the years that lie ahead. But he will find a peace that passes understanding, a deep joy in the midst of life, and love & acceptance beyond his expectations. Oh, and pleasure too - Jesus says that those who seek pleasure will not find it: those who seek to do God’s will will find pleasure as a by-product... No great surprise... So we rejoice in Alex’s baptism, we remember our own initiation into the Christian faith - whenever and however that came about; and today also serves as a reminder that if we’re finding it tough, well maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised - it comes with the territory!
Fr Andrew J Perry
Picture Credits on this page |
“You
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” 
The
supreme symbol of the Christian faith isn’t a bible, or a candle, or a fish,
or a church... it’s an instrument of death... people often wear a cross
around their necks - sometimes as an item of jewellery, sometimes as a
reminder of their faith, and we accept that as quite normal.. but could you
imagine what it would be like wearing a gold set of gallows round your neck,
or an electric chair, or a machine gun...? 
...
to use your brain to engage with the scriptures and the situation of life we
find ourselves involved in today
On
Good Friday we remember how Jesus was nailed to the cross and died: on
Easter Sunday we remember how he conquered death and rose from the dead. In
one sense every Sunday is a day of resurrection - but then every Friday is a
day of crucifixion. Using that analogy, Peter wanted the Sunday without the
Friday... he wanted the empty cross without the crucifix. 
Join
the Church - and get crucified... 