St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
September 29, 2024
Year B, Proper 21: The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Psalm 124
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Life or Death
The other day, I visited with a couple of parishioners who had attended one of our Newcomers Receptions over at the Rectory.
They commented on how beautiful the house is, which is certainly true, and it’s something that Sue and I never take for granted.
At our church back in Jersey City, the rectory was also beautiful, but, unlike here, it was located right beside the church, on a fairly busy city street.
As you’d guess, that proximity and visibility had advantages and disadvantages, but one upside was that I was able to become sort of the priest of the block, minister to the neighborhood.
And that flock beyond our congregation included some of the people who attended the Twelve Step meetings in our Parish Hall.
One thing that I’ll never forget is how these people were incredibly faithful to their meetings – no matter the weather, no matter if our furnace was on the fritz, no matter how hard it was to find a parking spot, no matter what, each week they made their way from the sidewalk and into the hall, where they admitted their addiction and used well-practiced words and stories.
Each week, they performed a kind of liturgy – a service of recovery and hope.
Attending those meetings was, and is, serious business, the difference between sobriety and destruction, a matter of life or death.
Over the years, I’ve often wondered if we might capture some of that same urgency in our Christian lives, how we might recreate some of that same urgency here in church.
Because, as we heard in today’s gospel lesson, Jesus’ message is serious business, it’s the difference between heaven and hell, a matter of life and death.
In his usual pithy way, Mark packs a lot into today’s gospel lesson.
First, in the latest installment of our long-running series, “The Disciples Just Don’t Get It,” Jesus’ closest followers complain that other people – people outside the inner circle - are using Jesus’ name to cast out demons.
What’s left unsaid is that these “outsiders” are probably having more success than the disciples themselves!
The disciples want Jesus to put a stop to this, but instead, Jesus tells his friends that they don’t have some kind of monopoly on him – that others should be allowed and even encouraged to call upon Jesus’ power.
And then things get more serious, when Jesus warns of dire consequences for anyone who is a “stumbling block,” anyone gets in the way of someone who wants to follow Jesus.
That should be sobering for any of us who have not been as welcoming or as encouraging as we should be when someone arrives here.
It should be worrying to those of us who have been hypocrites – saying beautiful words in here but then living in a very different way out there.
And then Jesus turns his attention to all of us – and uses graphic language to say that we need to remove from our lives whatever causes us to stumble – we need to remove from our lives whatever separates us from God - insisting that this is serious business, a matter of heaven or hell, life or death.
And, finally, Jesus riffs on salt, and gives us the kind of cryptic warning that we’d better not lose our saltiness.
Whew.
That’s a lot to deal with, so I’m especially glad that, in just a few minutes, I’ll have the joy and privilege of baptizing young Graham, who will become our newest Christian.
I think I’ve probably mentioned that I love Baptism. I love baptizing people.
And there are lots of reasons:
Baptism is a celebration of new life – new life for te person getting bathed in Holy Water – new life for all of us, as our circle grows a little wider.
Witnessing Baptism is a reminder that, once upon a time, that was us – we made those big promises, or, more likely, those big promises were made on our behalf.
And, it’s a reminder that God has made a big promise to us, promising that God’s bond with us is indissoluble – that God will not let go of us, no matter what.
Today, though, I’m particularly aware that Baptism reminds us that our Christian life is serious business, a matter of heaven or hell, life or death.
In a moment, I’m going to ask Graham’s parents and godparents if they renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God – do they renounce the evil powers of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God – do they renounce all sinful desires that draw them from the love of God.
And, answering on Graham’s behalf, they will answer, “I renounce them.”
Whatever we might think of Satan, there’s no doubt that the “spiritual forces of wickedness “ are very powerful.
There’s no doubt about “the evil forces of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God.
There’s no doubt about “sinful desires” that draw us away from God.”
Just turn on the news, any day of the week.
The people getting to Twelve Step meetings no matter what, they know all about those evil forces – and, let’s be honest, we do, too.
So, for us, the first step is renouncing evil, wanting nothing to do with it.
And, second, Baptism reminds us how to keep our “saltiness” – how to keep our faithfulness – how to live in ways different from the ways of the world.
With God’s help, we admit when we mess up and ask for forgiveness.
With God’s help, we gather here – not as a nice thing to do occasionally – but as a matter of life and death.
With God’s help, we share the Good News by what we say and do.
With God’s help, we seek Christ in everyone and love our neighbors as ourselves.
With God’s help, we work for justice and peace, and respect everyone’s dignity, especially the people we don’t like or trust one bit.
With God’s help, this is how we keep our saltiness.
I don’t know if we can ever really duplicate the urgency of recovering addicts, getting themselves to their meetings, no matter what.
But the message of Jesus is urgent.
Jesus urgently calls Graham and all of us to a life very different from the ways of the world.
Jesus calls us to a life of love and service.
And this is serious business, as serious as it gets: a matter of heaven or hell, a matter of life or death.
Amen.
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