Paul and Frances, your family and friends, welcome
to church today for your darling infant’s son’s baptism. It is lovely to have
you with us: I and the church here at Crook hope you have a happy and memorable
day. Baptism can be a nerve racking experience for the family as well as at
times for the minister – well at least the organist did not play the theme
music from Jaws, I did not have to wear scuba divers outfit and the coast guard
was not involved.
I wonder if you put your Sat Nav on to find
the church this morning or followed directional signs? At my son’s recent wedding
the vicar gave the happy couple the wrong post code for the church so that many
guests arrived in somebody’s private drive. Signs are very much part of our
lives - shop
signs, lighted signs, advertising signs, neon signs, school signs, restaurant
signs, toilet sign, speed limit signs, disabled parking signs, no parking signs
as the parking attendant slaps a £30 parking fine on you windscreen. “What do
you mean, sir, you didn’t see the double yellow lines?”
We
too have our signs; we wear signs all the time. Perhaps the gentlemen in either
their red and white, black and white football shirts might prefer some David
Beckham lookalike tattoos, a crucifix on the back of the neck perhaps, a
guardian angel between the shoulder blades and an angel on the right shoulder.
The guardian angel is there to overlook the names of his three children,
Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz. Not quite sure what David will do for Seven his
newborn daughter – will Prince William be a godfather we wonder. No David the
minister will not use a flame thrower – it is not a baptism of fire! Perhaps
the women would prefer signs of Gucci sunglasses, Vivienne Westwood jewellery,
a naughty off the shoulder Armani something or other, Jimmy Choos nude shoes, a
Mulberry designer handbag, why not go for something from the Sarah Burton
Alexander McQueen wedding dress collection. Sorry.... that one is a one
off.......... already worn!
As
we look around us the church too is full of signs, a wooden cross on which
Jesus died, a sign we say in church speak - a sign of our salvation, a rainbow
arch around the organ, symbol of the church’s openness to diversity and
inclusion, as well as a sign from a Genesis story, Judy Garland’s theme song, And
of course a font where Jacob was baptised a few moments ago. Baptism is a sign
too, it is also one of the sacraments of the Church; a sacrament is a sign also
‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,’ as the old
prayer book stated. In a nutshell, through baptism we’re made children of God’s
grace, we become members of the
Church. Jacob has been baptised as a Christian.
This ceremony has obligations foremost of which is to live the Christian life.
The sign at Jesus baptism in the River Jordan was a dove descending out of the
sky and a voice from heaven which said: “This is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased, listen to him.”
Paul
and Frances – God is committed
to the flourishing, well being and happiness of your family, you have
embarked on this great journey of love, not only of loving each other but of
loving Jacob. As parents you are going to be a sign, an electric spark to Jacob
of what human love is like, you are going to be the role models of what God’s
love is like. Having five children on my own you I can assure you will be in
for some challenging times and experiences. Jacob may not need a media bedsit
where he will have his own TV, internet, game consoles and a new apple iphone. But
he will need you to be there for him, to support him, to run the line at the
football match, to sit at the poolside during swimming lessons, to listen to
him experiment with a drum set, to help with the maths homework, to let him
borrow your car for the first time. You are going to be signs of love for
Jacob. But like the BBC 1’s roller coaster life of Sue and Pete Brockman’s
family from South London, you may be outnumbered! The Jake, Ben and Karen’s of
this world will see to that.
Paul and
Frances. You are surrounded by loving families with offers of help and support,
sleep-over, shopping, and grandparents. Use them. We as a church are here to
help you too, our doors are open, you have our telephone numbers, we too can
provide help and support, education and teenage training. Alas human beings
live in a world of good and bad and that makes our lives and relationships
painful and complicated but not so with God. God will never give up on you, even if you run away from
him. Paul and Frances never stop loving each other - you are for Jacob a sign
of what human love and family life is like and can be for the rest of his life –
he will learn from you, you will be his example. As the late Steve Jobs co-founder,
chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc said, “Have the
courage to follow your heart and intuition, and as
with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any
great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.” And so it is with our relationship with God.
And in all this we, as we are able, together, will do
everything possible to keep our promises to love, help and support you.
So before we
complain too loudly about David Cameron’s Downturn Abbey Britain, a world of Kelly
Rowland’s x factor wannabees, (I wish she could pick me! ), the future of
Arsene Wenger, the slow goodbye of Coronation Street’s Becky McDonald, the
price of Apples’ new iPhones, and Sienna
Miller’s phone hacking payoff, we should remember today that we have cause for
thanksgiving – God has committed himself yet again to one more human family,
the Moore family here from Douglas Terrace, Crook, and in the lives of this
lovely family with whom today we join in celebration, we see the sign of God’s
embracing, renewing vision of God’s faithful love.
Paul and
Frances may God bless you on your journey, and may Jacob’s baptism be a sign to
live the faith more fully.
Amen
Ray
Anglesea is a self supporting minister working in St Andrew’s Dawson Street
LEP, Crook and in the wider West Durham Methodist Circuit
