Church of the Redeemer

Pentecost 2003 

“We drink of the one Spirit” 

Imagine discovering a spring of pure water.  You are out in the mountains on a summer day; you’ve lost your way and somehow, turning a corner, stumble upon a spring welling up from the rocks, clear and cool.  You bend down and put your face right in it, drinking deeply.  Having slaked your thirst perhaps you then take a bit of water and wash your face and hands.  You take a bit of cool water and anoint your head.  Then perhaps you just sit for a spell, listening to the sound of the water until, rested and your strength restored, you set out again on your way. 

As a Christian community, on special days like today, we bring water into our midst for baptism.  We pray over it and tell a story.  We tell of the Spirit of God moving over the face of the water at the beginning of creation.  We tell of the Hebrew people being brought through water out of bondage in Egypt and made a new people of God.  We tell of the baptism of Jesus Christ in the river Jordan at which he was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the messiah, the Christ. 

We also give thanks for the many graces of Holy Baptism – the layer upon layer of significance in the sacrament.  We give thanks for the cleansing power of baptismal water, by which we are given the gift of forgiveness, for ourselves and others.  We give thanks for the mystery by which, in baptism, we participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We give thanks that, having been united with him in life eternal, we are incorporated as members into the body of Christ, the church. 

The analogy of the body and its members is a common way of talking about the relationship between individuals and a community.    My arms and my legs are members of my body; if they were cut off, I would be dis-membered; if they were somehow attached again, I would be re-member.  St. Paul uses the analogy of body and members in his letter to the Corinthians to describe our one-ness in fellowship despite the several-ness of our ministries.  

Now, there are two ways in which human communities can be defined and perpetuated.  The first is by defining a periphery, a boundary that includes some in and excludes others out.  This can be especially useful in politics, as Machiavelli understood.  He counseled the Prince or ruler to maintain power by keeping the nation in a state of perpetual war and thus emphasizing the separation between ‘us’ and ‘them’.  The perceived threat of hostile others galvanizes a people into a defensive battle for survival.  Imagine this parish church as a great fortress threatened by a hostile army outside the walls; wouldn’t we respond by pulling together to defend ourselves? 

It was just this way of maintaining a religious community that Jesus condemned – the righteous defining themselves as ‘in’ and the unrighteous as ‘out’.  The architectural expression of this sort of religiosity was the Temple of Jerusalem, which was built as a series of concentric courts set off by walls and gates.  The great outer court was the Court of the Gentiles, to which people of any nation were admitted.  Within this was the Court of the Women, into which only the descendents of Abraham could pass.  Within this was the Court of Israel, to which only men were admitted, and within this was the inner sanctum to which only priests were admitted.  When Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple – when no stone would be left on stone – he pronounced God’s intention to throw down these walls of separation. 

There is another way by which a community may be defined: not by its periphery, but by its center.  This is the way that Paul speaks of the church:  a community that finds its unity in a common source:  we are one because we drink of the same Spirit.  None need to be excluded from such a community; all may be welcomed.

 And this is the fourth grace of baptism, that we are anointed by the Holy Spirit and bear within ourselves the living presence of God.  This Spirit endows us with gifts by which we are empowered to carry out the ministry of Christ’s body in the world.  Paul speaks of these gifts in a functional sense; various members are given the gifts to perform various functions, as those who will teach or prophesy or interpret.  Our baptismal liturgy speaks of the gifts of the Spirit in a different way, drawn from the prophet Isaiah.  We pray for the newly baptized that they will be given "an inquiring and discerning heart; the courage to will and to persevere; a spirit to know and to love [God]; and the gift of joy and wonder in all of [God’s] works.”  

Such a beautiful prayer – doesn’t it express exactly what we would wish for the newly baptized – for all of our children – for ourselves?  It speaks of the quality of our lives and the fullness of our humanity.  Just as water is constitutive of our bodily life, so these gifts are constitutive of our full humanity before God.  What would our lives be without them?  We would be dried-up things, without color or character or strength or delight – no better than dry bones.

 By our baptisms we are given Christ’s own Spirit, a well of living water within us.  We are invited to drink deeply of this spring – in our corporate worship, in our individual life of prayer, in our reading and study of scripture, in our partaking of forgiveness, and in our service to others in Christ name.  What would we be if we fail to drink of this living water?  We would lose our distinctive character as the living body of Christ.  We would become just another human community defining itself over against others, serving no greater purpose than the perpetuation of a certain set merely human customs – a certain way of gathering in a certain style of dress within a certain sort of architecture, singing a certain style of song and reading out of a certain book – and that would be no life worth living. 

My brothers and sisters let us then drink deeply from this well.  Let us drink thirstily of the life of the Spirit, in our worship and prayer, in our study and service, and so be cleansed, refreshed and strengthened to live fully in the joy of Christ.  Amen.

-- The Rev. Steven Bonsey

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