homily recap 2.8.09

We continued our series of homilies that are based on some of the theological ideas presented in the Nicene Creed. Having just finished a 3 part series on redemption we moved on to reflect on the church as God's gift of community to those who are being redeemed. The church community is the context where God nurtures, teaches, and keeps his promises to his people.

This Sunday we considered the sacrament of baptism and reflected on what God says to us through this symbol. The notion of a sacrament, often defined as a visible and tangible sign of an invisible reality, is itself such an ethereal concept that one might wryly suggest that we need a sacrament to make the concept of sacraments real to us. In that observation, however, lies a hint of what is beautiful, true, and mysterious about the two sacraments Jesus left the church. To offer an analogy from what one Christian thinker, Maritain, has said about art: because it is God's world, a creation made in love and granted freedom, "things give more than they have". As Jesus took on the flesh and blood of this creation to show us the God who we cannot see, he left us physical stuff for us to act upon and through in order to reveal to us that which is invisible.

Some thoughts on the sacraments:
Regardless of what one thinks happens when one takes communion (I am referring here to the debates over transubstantiation, consubstantiation, the memorial view, and spiritual union) doesn't one have to admit that Jesus meant for there to be something unique about the connection between the physical act and what it speaks of; consider that the words of institution form 1 Corinthians 11 cited below teach us that the physical act of eating and drinking reveal the spiritual reality of the gospel - in Paul's words, it is the act of eating and drinking that speaks. Similarly, with baptism (see quotes from Romans 6 and Colossians 1 below), it is the physical act of baptism that Paul is referring to that proclaims the gospel and physically reveals a spiritual reality (e.g. circumcised with a spiritual circumcision... when you were buried with him in baptism).

"For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...."

"In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."

In my opinion, for too long the debate over the meaning of the sacraments has centered on the questions of how and if they convey grace in and of themselves. The better question, I think, is how does God use these symbols together with the "tokens of trust" given to the church's common life (e.g. worship, prayer, community, etc) to be with us and speak to us? This is why we are encouraged to say that we believe in the church (actually, the Greek is that we "believe the church"). What we believe is that God works in us in a particular kind of community - the church. This is not to diminish the uniqueness, integrity, or importance of our individual relationships with God, rather we are taught that our individual relationships with God do not offer a context in and of themselves for the fullness of human flourishing. Rowan Williams, in his book (Tokens of Trust), talks about the church in this language: "Breathing the air of Christ, Christ becoming the 'atmosphere' in which we live.... ... isn't only about being in a state of peace but about being in what some would call a 'dynamic equilibrium'. Our peace is what it is because it is a flow of unbroken activity, the constant maintenance of relation and growth as we give into each others' lives and receive from each other, so that we advance in trust and confidence with one another and God."

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think of the church (Grace Chicago, for example) as a gift of God to you and the context where God wishes to help your flourish as a human being?

2. Luke Timothy Johnson, in his book on the Nicene Creed (The Creed), says that "no one of us believes as much or as well as all of us do communally." Agree? Disagree? What is he saying? Expand on his thoughts?

3. Do the sacraments offer a context that help you in your life with Christ each other? I remarked on Sunday that baptism offers us a pattern that helps us read our lives rightly. Do you see baptism in this way?

4. Confessing the Nicene Creed, and participating in the sacramental life of the church reminds us that we confess a mystery revealed to us. Is it important to acknowledge the aspect of our faith that is mystery? If so, why? If not, why not?