Jeremiah 20:7-13
Romans 5:15b-19
Matthew 10:(16-23)24-33
Psalm 69:1-18 or 69:7-10, 16-18
Today Carrie is being baptized. Today we name her as part of the Christian community. Carrie becomes an official Christian.
Now Carrie did some preparation for this day. Learned a bit about the Episcopal Church. Reviewed the Baptismal service. I told her some things about us Christians.
By the way, Carrie. Did I happen to mention that you will be hated because of Jesus name? persecuted for being a Christian? Did I tell you that being a Christian is dangerous and that it's hard work?
Is that the experience of the rest of you baptized folks here? How many of you have been persecuted in the last week? Anyone been flogged lately?
It seems that today not too many of us are hated because of Jesus' name. Oh, on occasion we might be a laughingstock, or at least held in disdain, by some of our more rational, intellectual friends. People say, "Why bother with church anymore? You're wasting good golf time." Or, "Get real! Religion has nothing to do with real life."
But the way Jesus talks about it, speaking in Jesus's name sounds almost as bad as wearing a star of David during the Holocaust.
And this miserable holy work is not just for Jesus's followers. The prophets were persecuted long before Jesus was born. So Jeremiah rages at God for tricking him. He can't even stop himself from speaking. If he tries not to speak, he catches fire inside.
It's dangerous business, dealing with this God. Remember those folks at Pentecost caught fire too. (There's still time, Carrie! Wanna run?)
We baptize with water. But Jesus baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah burned inside with the spirit of God and he had to speak. The those pentecostal tongues of flame settled on the early church and Jesus' name spread like wildfire over the all known world.
How dare we not speak today? In the Episcopal church we pride ourselves on using Reason along with Scripture and Tradition to help us discern God's will and follow Jesus.
We are a thinking church. We are a questioning church. But are we a speaking church?
My sisters and brothers, you good baptized Christains, How long since you told anyone about Jesus? How long since you admitted to a friend that you believe in God?
Are we afraid we will be mocked and become a laughingstock? We've already been told to expect that.
Jesus has given us a word to speak, just as the Lord gave Jeremiah a word to speak. Jesus sends us out like sheep among wolves.
Wise as serpents and innocent as doves, he says, but I know about sheep among wolves. Sheep are really stupid. And I become as suspicious of God as Jeremiah. It sounds like a trick, a setup: Jesus sends us out to look stupid among the clever. ?
And then Jesus says, "don't worry about what you are to say ... the Spirit of Father [will be] speaking through you."
Can we trust that? I know I will look like a stupid fool, trying to tell someone about Jesus. But I might just be willing to do it if I had some clue about what to say.
And Jesus says, "nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, nothing secret that will not be known"
What do we Christians know, that the world needs to know? What's the big secret?
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from God. .... So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows."
That's the secret that the world does not know. Christians know that each one of us is of great worth. In God's eyes, we are infinitely precious and important.
In a culture where self-worth is at an all-time low, that is a miracle. The miracle is that God, the only one who knows everything about us, sees us as valuable and worthy of love and life.
Today this is a big secret. It's something one that some people seem not to believe about people who are different from themselves. It's something that very few people seem able to believe about themselves
People live in fear; the fear that they will not be loved. Deep inside many people think "If people really knew me they'd know I am not worthy of love and life."
And they are right. All by ourselves, based on what we have done and what we are able to do, we are not worthy. To judge by our actions, we are not even as good as those nearly worthless sparrows -- at least they are doing what God created them to do.
But there's more that the followers of Jesus know more that needs to be proclaimed from the housetops -- Our worth is not based anything that we do, good or bad. The Reading from Romans today reminds us that it is a free gift; all people are "justified" - made right with God - because Jesus was "righteous"- "in line" with God's will in his obedience.
This is the secret we celebrate as we baptize Carrie and name her God's own child. The secret is that because of Jesus every individual human being is valuable and loveable and worthy of life in its fullness.
So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. You are worthy of love and the fullness of life.
In this world of insecurity, alienation, and low self-esteem, This is a secret that when told and received will catch like wildfire.
May God set the burning fire of the God's Spirit in our church, May God set the burning fire of the God's Word our bones and our hearts. So that we are not afraid to tell ourselves and the world the Secret: that because of Jesus all people are worthy of love and life.
Jesus has told us that The Secret will be known. So, go, beloved sparrows, shout it from the housetops.
Let's start a fire.