Baptism

This sermon is not part of a series. Baptism is a topic we are familiar with but many of us don't really understand it.  The Bible did not come into its present form until the fourth century. Its current form was decided upon then and what was deemed inspired grew out of Church tradition.  In Jesus' day there were many ways to be a Jew. In the early days of Christianity, there were many ways to be a Christian. Diversity was greater then than now. God makes room for diversity. No human has it all figured out. If we look at the Bible as a way to separate the in group from the out group - as primarily rules and doctrines - then we miss the story. The Truth is a Story.  New findings in archeology are teaching us a lot about the first century. We understand more what the words in the New Testament mean.  We need a deeper understanding of baptism. Baptism is a story. Ancient people thought of the ocean as deep and dark and terrifying - rather like we think of space. It was also viewed as the dwelling place of demons. The deep in Genesis reflects the terrible darkness of the waters. Isaiah 27:1 also speaks of sea monsters and demonic realities. God will slay Leviathan and only God can save us when we go into the waters.  God used water as a judgment in the story of Noah. The story of Jonah adds salvation to the judgment of going beneath the waves. The point is not what kind of fish swallowed Jonah or how Jonah survived.  Going into the water is serious. The Exodus is like a baptism. God brought the people through the waters of the Red Sea into salvation. The Egyptians, who drowned, were judged by the water. The Jews became a different people on the other shore - their identity is bound up in the Passover and the Exodus.  Claudius kicked Jews out of Rome and Gentiles (formerly "second class" members of the Church) took over. Nero let Jews come back and Paul's Letter to the Romans addresses in part the resulting conflict. What rules your life - sin or grace?  When we are baptized we are the Israelites going into the Red Sea, we are Jonah going into the belly of the fish, we are Jesus descending into Hell. When we rise from the water, we are new, we are changed, we rise into Life. What changes, as viewed in first century thought, is our identity. The old self dies, a new self is born.  Faith is not knowing the rules and doctrines. Faith is living into the Life of Christ. 

On Suffering

The play Freud's Last Session highlights the fact that ideas have consequences. Everybody suffers and all worldviews address suffering. Christians must be very careful about their thoughts on suffering. How Christians understand suffering is often a focus of criticism from non Christians.  This sermon centers on Lewis' book The Problem of Pain. The dilemma of the Christian faith is why does suffering exist if God is all powerful and all good. Lewis addressed this with the free will defense. Honoring free will makes suffering possible.  God can do all things possible but this doesn't mean God can do nonsense. God cannot both give us free will and make certain the we always choose rightly. We cannot be both free and a puppet.  Free will is necessary for life itself. Free will is foundation of good as well as evil.  Some social scientists argue that free will is an illusion. But although there are many influences, we still, at the core, have the freedom to choose.  Lewis said that if God is Love, then God is more than mere kindness. God is not a senile grandparent that just wants us to enjoy ourselves. Being happy isn't the apex of good. God wants to perfect us. God wants us to be all we can be and sometimes suffering is a part of that.  Like a good parent, God seeks our maturity. Romans 8:28-29 reaffirms that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him." This includes suffering.  Lewis said suffering has two roots: 1. How the universe is made.  2. Abuse of free will.  Societal sin is real. We can at times unwittingly contribute to the suffering of others.  Lewis believed both in the Fall and evolution. We are not what God intended us to be. We evolved to the point where we can reflect the image of God. The reflection of this is a movement away from acting on for material and natural ends. Self consciousness moves us to the spiritual. But even trees are altruistic -- we are not so separate from Nature as we used to assume.  We are all cut of the same cloth. We are all part of the same sky. And all Creation pulses with the Holiness of God.  Our free will works to the good when we turn toward God and are no longer trapped in self absorption.  Christ reconciled Creation to God. The cross is not the focus of God's anger but the expression of God's love.  In Colossians 1:21-23, Paul affirms that the Gospel is preached to all Creation. 

On Love

Freud and Lewis both wrote extensively on love. Their ideas were rooted in their worldview. Worldviews typically fall into one of two categories - materialistic or supernatural. Freud embraced materialism, Lewis the supernatural. Whichever worldview you hold, be consistent. Consistency will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of your worldview.  Both Freud and Lewis are influential today.  Freud took a materialistic view of love. It was all sexual, but divided into two categories: genital love and aim-inhibited love. Aim-inhibited love is any type of love not leading to coitus and reproduction. Freud had difficulty understanding sacrificial love.  Lewis had no problem with sacrificial love. His ideas pick up where Freud leaves off. Lewis said there were two types of love - gift love and need love. Sacrificial love is gift love.  Storge is the natural affection we feel for the good things of life. Philia is friendship. Eros is passionate love. Sex without eros is all about the self. With eros, the focus is on the Beloved. Agape is Divine Love. Sacrificial love is agape. Agape transforms our experience of the first three kinds of love.