One Word

Maybe you have seen by now the unfolding sacramental “scandal” unfolding in Arizona. Rev. Andres Arango has said, “WE baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” he was supposed to say “I baptize you.” That one word, that one pronoun according to Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix, nullifies every one of those thousand baptisms. The Bishop says, “If you were baptized using the wrong words, that means your baptism is invalid, and you are not baptized.”

As those rooted in a free church tradition, we must bristle at such pompous and really un-graceful Church platitudes and policies. We must speak and act as those who love the Church when we are convinced the Body of Christ has indeed wandered away from the God of all blessing. The Vatican’s argument is theological, that “the issue with using “we” is that it is not the community that baptizes a person, rather, it is Christ alone, and Him alone, who presides at all of the sacraments.”

I am left to wonder how we can render a baptism, a means of grace, a work of God “invalid”. I love how my colleague Judy Howard Peterson reflects in her blog: “The Church is willing to do this because of their devotion to a religious formula that is undergirded by a belief that God cares more about each piece of the formula being followed than the peace of God’s people.”

Father Arango, poor Father Arango, who never meant to make any point, and who just spent his days and years pouring out the grace of God onto human beings, is now regretful: “I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience my actions have caused and genuinely ask for your prayers, forgiveness, and understanding.” bristle too at the thought that he needs forgiving, at least for his one mis-spoken word.

The point is, I think, that our God has become way, way too small, if we are in fact to believe and declare that we can decide that whatever God decides to do is invalid, null and void, a mistake. The pastor still said, after all, to one blessed and beloved soul after another “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” How dare we even think we can call that invalid? Whether it be I or We, it is God’s work, and God’s love acted out for the one brought, or who comes as we say, “to the Church for the sacrament of Baptism.”

God is at work working God’s own purposes out and needs no help from us to make sure it’s all kosher. Those of us who claim to work for God — pastors, leaders, indeed all Jesus followers — we need to find humility again, and remember breath by breath that God is God, and we are not. We need to recognize our constant temptation and tendency to turn the power we have been given into something abusive to real human people.

Pastor Arango has no need to ask forgiveness for baptizing God’s beloved ones.

It is we who are the Church, all of us together, who might fall to our knees, and start again listening to the pleading words of Jesus to the Pharisees, and his disciples too: “Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:13)

We have a long, long way to go. Let us with humility, repeatedly, say so.

Peter Hawkinson

About Love

As my inbox full of advertisements – special coupons, dinner deals, last-minute gift options – tells me, it’s Valentine’s Day. And although I’m spending it at home with my valentine (a 50-pound pitbull mix), the narrative around this day is hard to escape. Flowers! Romance! Candy! Chocolates! Cards and gifts!

This year, one of the places I shop asked if I wanted to receive their emails about Valentine’s Day, or if I would rather opt out, and not be bothered, or burdened, by reminders of the day. Even though I didn’t exercise the option, I have to say I was surprised and grateful that an online merchandiser would be that thoughtful about their customers.

The truth is, this is a complicated day, whether you’re partnered or not. I’ve seen more of a movement lately to take the pressure and expectations out of the day, but like it or not they are still in the ether, still alive and well in the culture around us.

So I wanted to take a minute today, of all days, and sit with a familiar passage from scripture, perhaps one of our best-known ones, 1 Corinthians 13. One of the few passages that talks explicitly about love. As I reminded our WCC kids a few weeks ago, it talks about God’s love for us.

And as I often do with a familiar passage, I prefer looking at this from a couple of different translations.

First, from the New Living Testament:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

And again, from the Message translation:

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

On this day when we get a lot of messages about love, I invite you to hold this message first. This is the love God has for us. Patient and kind, rejoicing in the truth, trusting, hopeful, enduring. No matter how we woke up today, how we rise to the challenges of this particular Monday (or don’t), how we treat others, how we talk to ourselves…this is God’s love for us. It never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

Now put that on a chocolate heart.

yours,

Pastor Jen

About Love

As my inbox full of advertisements – special coupons, dinner deals, last-minute gift options – tells me, it’s Valentine’s Day. And although I’m spending it at home with my valentine (a 50-pound pitbull mix), the narrative around this day is hard to escape. Flowers! Romance! Candy! Chocolates! Cards and gifts!

This year, one of the places I shop asked if I wanted to receive their emails about Valentine’s Day, or if I would rather opt out, and not be bothered, or burdened, by reminders of the day. Even though I didn’t exercise the option, I have to say I was surprised and grateful that an online merchandiser would be that thoughtful about their customers.

The truth is, this is a complicated day, whether you’re partnered or not. I’ve seen more of a movement lately to take the pressure and expectations out of the day, but like it or not they are still in the ether, still alive and well in the culture around us.

So I wanted to take a minute today, of all days, and sit with a familiar passage from scripture, perhaps one of our best-known ones, 1 Corinthians 13. One of the few passages that talks explicitly about love. As I reminded our WCC kids a few weeks ago, it talks about God’s love for us.

And as I often do with a familiar passage, I prefer looking at this from a couple of different translations.

First, from the New Living Testament:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

And again, from the Message translation:

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

On this day when we get a lot of messages about love, I invite you to hold this message first. This is the love God has for us. Patient and kind, rejoicing in the truth, trusting, hopeful, enduring. No matter how we woke up today, how we rise to the challenges of this particular Monday (or don’t), how we treat others, how we talk to ourselves…this is God’s love for us. It never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

Now put that on a chocolate heart.

yours,

Pastor Jen