Miracles of Love

Baptismal sermon preached by Ray Anglesea at St Andrew's Dawson Street, Crook - Sunday July 7th

 

Congratulations to Bryan and Stephanie on Joey’s baptism, and Robert and Charmaine on Damian’s baptism.  It is lovely to see you all in church together with your family and friends.

 

It was reported on the BBC and in the newspapers last week that Britain is poised to become the first country to allow babies to be born with three biological parents. The historic proposal would lift a ban on IVF treatments that can eliminate incurable genetic diseases. We thank God for such groundbreaking new procedures, pioneered in one of our own University’s - that of Newcastle.  Such cutting edge practices will give fresh hope to scores of mothers, many of whom live with extremely cruel, unpredictable and devastating medical conditions. Two friends of mine have recently undergone IVF treatment after many disappointments and setbacks. Mother 1 has passed through her 12 week barrier and is doing well, mother number 2 is not quite there yet, but there are optimistic signs that all will be well. We have come a long way since Louise Brown the first test tube baby was born in 1978 and for which her doctor, Dr Edwards, received the 2010 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Louise was later to conceive a son, Cameron, by natural methods. Miracle babies indeed. Praise God for the wonders of medical science and research!

 

But all babies, whether conceived naturally or by other means are born in love and for love – as my mother would say babies bring a lot of love with them - infant baptism expresses the ultimate primacy of God’s love. God say’s to Jeremiah “before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you.” The very existence of a baby, of Joey and Damian is a gift from God, a precious person, to be loved and cherished. And just as my two IVF mothers have said yes to this gift of cherishing the unborn baby in the womb and preparing for its birth so Joey and Damian’s parents have said yes to bringing their child for baptism for no other reason but for this child to be loved by God, to be called one of his own and that it might share in eternal life. And today that love has a human face in Joey and Jack. And to these very young lives we bring our own memories of those who have loved us into life, whose lives are interwoven with ours and made us who and what we are.

 

Bryan and Stephanie, Robert and Charmaine, take this promise home with you today - God unconditionally loves you – we do not have to thrash around like that great musician and song writer Freddie Mercury in his soul-searching piece - Somebody to love – please anybody find me somebody to love! God loves you. Faith is our response to the astonishing discovery that God loves us. God’s choice of us precedes our choice of God.

 

And here is the good news. God today has committed himself to Joey and Damian – for ever and for all time “and lo I am with you always to the end of time,” as St Matthew puts it at the end of his very Jewish gospel. That’s God’s part of the bargain, that’s what’s God has promised today as part of the deal. Bryan and Stephanie, Robert and Charmaine, in the months and years ahead you will be able to draw upon more than just your own strength, your own capacity to love each other, today you have opened yourselves up to a relationship of God's love, in the hope that when you face difficulties you will be able to offer one another more than simply your own individual words and feelings.

In this relationship as in every serious relationship there will be ups and downs, moments of tension, discord. In human terms there will be nights with a crying child, falling out, tears, naughty children may have to be disciplined and sat on  the naughty step - my grandson sometimes finds himself there. There will be frustration about the lack of employment opportunities, insufficient funds and days when we just feel down, tired and bored. And with all the pressures of family life it is often difficult to make headway. But Bryan and Stephanie, Robert and Charmaine, you are surrounded by loving families with offers of help and support, sleep-overs, shopping, grandparents love giving their grandchildren back to parents. Use them. We as a church are here to help you too, our doors are always 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. Bryan and Stephanie, Robert and Charmaine, never stop loving each other  - you will be Joey and Damian’s role models of what human love and family life is like and can be for the rest of their lives – they will learn from you, you will be there examples. 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 a world of disposable relationships, Egyptian riots, violence and the brutal murders of April Jones and Drummer Lee Rigby, dodgy banking phone deals and the decline of political trust, we should remember today that we have cause for thanksgiving – God has committed himself yet again to two more human families, the Crossley and Carr families here in Crook, and in the lives of these lovely families with whom today we join in celebration, we see that embracing, renewing and hopeful vision of God’s faithful love, a God who will never let you go. 

May God bless you on your journey, and may your child’s baptism open your eyes to live the faith more fully. Amen