“Clearing Our Vision Through Baptismal Waters”
Galatians 3:23-29 ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ July 1st, 2018
There has been a fascinating phenomenon at play with the World Cup well underway. Have you been watching the matches? My soccer-loving teenage son has drawn me into the sport and I have begun to notice many, many people sporting their country’s pride by donning a soccer jersey from their homeland. I had no idea how incredibly popular this World Cup is. Did you know that it is more popular than hockey? It is more popular than the Olympics? In fact, at the final match, on July 15th, 715 million people ~ approximately 10% of the entire planet ~ are scheduled to watch the final match! You will see people wearing their colours with pride! The German jersey worn with pride, the English jersey worn with pride, and Brazil, and so on. You hear incredible stories of these violent ‘soccer hooligan’ fans…Fans cordoned off in their respective sections, so that fights between the fans do not break out. Yet they openly taunt one another, singing chants directed at one another. Indeed, the separations, the rivalries, and even the hatred between nationalities is a very real thing.
This morning’s baptismal text ~ Galatians 3 ~ is an antedote to this. When listened too deeply, this passage washes the separations away; it washes the divisions clear away. To be clear, this passage does not make good news footage, but it makes good sense. This passage does not news headlines, but it outlines a vision of the Kin-dom of God. It is a vision of a world with no divisions, with no rivalries, with no hatred. It is a vision of the celebration of the unity we have as sons and daughters of God. As David mentioned in introducing the reading, this text was one of the earliest baptismal formulas. It was read as people were baptized. “There is no Jew or Greek, no Slave or Free, no Male or Female, for all are one in Christ”. In this passage, Paul seeks to wash away the worldly barriers that separate us, that cause hatred, that cause pain ~ and by so doing to open our eyes to a rainbow of possibilities that comes when we see our unity in the visionary Way of Jesus.
Paul opens our eyes in three movements. Firstly: there are no cultural separations ~ Paul puts it “there is no Jew or Greek”. Previously, the Torah/ the law had been a point of separation between the Jews. They understood themselves to, uniquely, be the “sons and daughters of God”. And Paul opens space, imagining a world where all cultures might find unity and respect among one another. No Jews or Greeks ~ no Surrey and White Rock. No Vancouver and East Van. No first world and third. No separations. As the baptismal waters run down ones face, they clear one’s eyes to see, not the separations, but the beauty / the unity of brother, of sister as a beloved son or daughter of God.
Secondly, there are no social classes ~ Or as Paul puts it “there is no slave or free”. The class distinction of haves and have-not nots does not exist in God’s eyes. And as the baptismal waters roll down, they liberate us to see this vision of a person ~ not someone who is rich or poor; who is homeless or wealthy ~ but someone who is beautiful and blessed ~ a beloved son or daughter of God.
Finally, there is no separation based on gender ~ Paul puts it “there is no male or female”. This, of course hearkens back to our original creation, when we were created “male and female” in the 1st chapter of Genesis. Yet, now, in this time of a new creation in Christ, these gender differences do not matter. This is all the more significant when we remember that Paul was speaking to a first Century misogynist world, when women were all but devalued chattel. To this gender inequality, Paul breaks down the gender barrier. He mentions women by name, he places women on par with men, never speaking of women in a condescending or patronizing fashion. In fact, Paul even mentions women as having the spiritual gifts of prayer and prophesy ~ which had previously been understood to be uniquely male.
I wonder if this text were written today, what divisions Paul might speak to today? What are the separations that our world creates between us / them? I often wonder about separations between generations ~ and how we might bridge the gap of connection between our elders and our younger generation that seems to be mission. Yesterday was the Surrey Pride Festival. I wonder if the inclusion of the LGBTQ2 community might be an area that needs further reflection and development by our churches, our community, our government? We need the baptismal waters to flow on our eyes and clear our vision from time to time, don’t we?
Here we are 2,000 years later and it seems like we need, from time to time, to return to the baptismal font to be reminded of this beautiful vision of the Kin-dom of God ~ that we are all ‘Kin’ / family. It seems like, whenever we erase one division ~ perhaps racism or sexism (though we still have a’ways to go) there continue to be new separations that we create. Perhaps it is in our DNA to love separations ~ to don jerseys of superiority ~ to cheer for our home team ~ to cheer for that which we are familiar. And maybe that’s why it is so important, not just for baby Gunnar, but for each of us to return to this baptismal font from time to time. To return to the waters and clear our eyes and gain further glimpses of the Kin-dom of God. Maybe that’s why we need to see this water poured…to clear our eyes and be reminded that beyond our unique separations and divisions, we are first and foremost kin / family / sons and daughters of God.
That is what we celebrate when we come to the table for communion isn’t it? We say that no matter who we are, no matter where we’ve been we are ALL welcomed to that table where Jesus washes our feet and serves us in our hungers and quenches us in our thirst. This is the vision of the Kin-dom, that all may be one in the grace of Christ.
May we live into that hope.
Amen.