Genesis 12:1-8
Romans 4:1-5(6-12)13-17
John 3:1-17
Psalm 33:12-22
That's right, Whitney's little brother, Mikal, is going to be baptized today. So I'd like to try something and see if we can figure out what baptism is all about. Place broom handle ( handle of broom without the head) on the floor
Okay, now we need to be careful here because I don't want anyone getting bonked in the head. Invite one or two children to pick up the broom handle from one end.
See how you do by yourself - don't anyone help out just now. That was pretty hard - picking up that stick by yourselves wasn't it?
What would make it easier? Pick it up in the middle If the stick had been shorter. If someone else was helping - holding the other end. Let's try that - pick two children to pick up the stick one from each end. Oh, that was a lot easier wasn't it?
What kinds of things do you all need help with sometimes? Suggestions: Getting something down from the top shelf in the closet, making your bed, remembering to brush your teeth every night, etc.
Who usually helps you out with those kinds of things? Parents, (Other folks might be mentioned, eg. bigger brother/sister, baby sitter, etc)
You know parents and big people promise to help children with a lot of stuff. They promise to buy food and make stuff for you to eat, and they promise to get you clothes to wear and they promise to try to keep you safe... It's like they make a deal with you to keep those promises and take care of you.
Do they ask you to make promises to them sometimes? To be nice to the pets, To pick up your toys, Etc. So they do things for you and you do things for them....is that how it works?
In a little bit when Mikal gets baptized, Mikel's and Whitney's moms and his God parents, Brad and Shelly, will be asked to make a lot of promises to God about something very special. They will promise to teach Mikal about how much Jesus loves him and wants to help him - forever and ever, no matter what!. And then after they make their promises, you and I and all the rest of the people in the church will be asked to make a promise to God too.
Cedar will ask all of us to promise to help Robin and Melissa and Shelly and Brad keep their promises to God - and when we are asked that, everyone in the whole church is going to holler out "We Will!" Really loud - to be sure that God can hear us - it's one of the times we get to shout in church!
So let's practice .... After Cedar asks Robin and Melissa and Shirley and Brad to make their promises, she's going to turn around and ask all of us a question, like this:
CEDAR: (It's in kind of grown up words) - Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ? And all of us are going to shout out: "we will!"
So Mikal is going to have lots and lots of help learning about how much Jesus loves him and wants to help him no matter what! - but there's one more promise that's part of all this baptism stuff anyone have any ideas? Who's going to help everyone remember what we promised?
GOD! That's right! God promises to keep on reminding us that God loves us and that God is always around to help us out.
So here's some cards of Jesus and a child to help you remember that God is always around to help out and that you can always talk to God whenever you want to. and because Whitney is Mikal's big sister and sometimes big sisters need some extra special help, i have another card just for her - to remind her that God keeps God's promises.
Today we welcome Mikal Robert Woidyla-Wood into the family of the faithful. It's a family whose roots go back more than a few thousand years to the time when God called Abraham and Sarah to leave everything they knew to go to a new place that God would show them.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that Abraham is the father of us all - that the family of the faithful began when Abraham and Sarah heeded God's voice and set out with nothing more than faith in God's promises. That faith was a gift from God. And God bestows that gift on each of God's children. When we're created, God plants a seed of God's self within each one of us. When properly tended, that seed sprouts into a blossom of faith in our Creator that enables us to do some pretty remarkable things..
Now Mikal already has the seed that carries that gift of faith. In a little while, all of us will be asked to promise to nurture and cultivate that seed, helping it grow and bloom so that Mikal will come to know God's presence in his life and to know that God keeps God's promises.
Now God makes some pretty unlikely promises - promises that seem downright impossible sometimes. Let's take a look at the promises God makes to Abraham and Sarah.
Here they are - a childless, aging couple whom God not only promises to give a child - but then God further promises that their descendants will become a great nation. And God doesn't stop there. God goes on to promise that every single family of the Earth will be blessed because of Abraham's faith and belief in God's promises. I'm sure we can all imagine the kinds of things their friends and neighbors must have said when Abraham and Sarah announced they were setting off for some unknown place to have a family and become the founding father and mother of a great nation.
Sarah was barren. She'd never been able to give birth a child. At that time in history, a woman who was barren was believed to have been scorned and forsaken by God. Sarah would have been the subject of humiliating gossip and rejection that would judge her worthy of little more than God's condemnation.
So Abraham and Sarah's claims about God's promises sounded utterly preposterous! She was way past childbearing years. Her womb was dried up and lifeless. There was no way she could possibly conceive, let alone carry a child at her age.
By the time they were ready to leave, it must have been quite a relief, especially for Sarah, to be rid of all the mockery and the finger-pointing. Of course, we all know the rest of the story.... God kept God's promises - and a son was born to Abraham and Sarah. And from that son a great nation emerged.
On September 11, 1999, Mikal's parents, Robin and Melissa, exchanged vows of love and fidelity and their life union was blessed in the church. From the beginning they trusted in a loving God who promised to bless ALL families of the Earth, and they prayed for the gift of children. Fifty years ago, we would have said that it was an impossible and outrageous idea - that a lesbian couple could become pregnant, bear children, and create a family.
Over the years many have said - and some still do say that it's heresy for the church to bless the life union of a lesbian or gay couple. And for such a couple to have children is completely scandalous and certainly should not be recognized by the church.. But God keeps God's promises. Just as God paid no heed to all the condemnation and judgement of barren women during Sarah's day - God seems to be paying little attention to all the condemnation and judgement of lesbian and gay couples in our day. Such couples are building strong and resilient families based on love and devotion to one another - and faith in God - a faith that believes God's promise to bless ALL the families of this Earth - not just some of them.
You know - ever since the time of Abraham and Sarah, we've been telling God who God should love and who God should not love - To name just a few, we've told God that God should not love barren women, or foreigners, or infidels, or people of color, or criminals, or cripples or women who are ordained to the priesthood. We've even told God that God should not love the Jewish people - and today many continue to tell God that God should not love people who are gay and lesbian... Isn't it a relief that God doesn't pay much attention to us when we try to take over God's job?
Today we are reminded once again that God keeps God's promises - no matter what! And that ALL families are blessed by a loving and faithful God.
AMEN . .