Before you can even make out the words being spoken, the Kentucky accent rolls out of the speakers, to ask the question, “Who would you say is the most important person in your life?” “Definitely my mother,” answers the even deeper accent of Wanda Jean as she told a story about the love her mother showed.[1] This is just one of the stories recorded by the organization, Story Corps, who have been crossing the nation recording everyday people’s short stories about their life, their joys, and the people and the things they love. For 20 years, Story Corps have been collecting these stories so that they can live into their mission “to help people feel more connected and less alone, increase hope and decrease fear of the other, and to shine a light on our best and truest selves.”[2] It is a noble effort in a day and age where division and separation and profits are seemingly more important than hearing a two minute story from a woman in East Kentucky. Browsing through these beautiful stories this week, I was reminded that there is a certain vitality that comes when we allow ourselves to ponder these big questions about who we are, what we should do, and how we should do it.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes to remind the people where the core of their identity stands. And in what is quite literally my favorite passage of scripture, Paul describes how the Spirit intercedes for us when our prayers are mere sighs too deep for words. He goes on to paint the image of God the Father and Christ the Son, standing in the corner of those who love God and are convicted by that love to change how they move through the world. And it is this Holy Trinity into which we are baptized that we find our identity. The big questions we come asking today is who are we? What are we supposed to do? And how should we do the work given to us to do? There is, as with all things on this fragile earth, good news and bad news in the answers to these questions. But as we welcome Collins into the household of God this morning, we get to sit with these questions.
The bad news of the life of a Christian, no matter what someone painting a prosperity gospel will tell you, is that it’s not a life guaranteed of ease, with no problems ahead. We’ll get sick, the bills become burdensome, the relationship will become strained, or some other unfathomable difficulty will find us, and in those moments, we remember the good news. Because the good news is that while Christianity is not necessarily an easy life, there is a promise of a certain sort of ease to living into God’s love. And when our world begins to feel so prickly and unbearable, we return to the very font into which Collins is welcomed this morning to remember that nothing can sperate us from God’s love.
And unfortunately, in Christianity, there’s no guarantee of a path laid out ahead with known turns and bumps in the road. We all navigate a life full of choices and opportunities and disappointments, and when we aren’t sure what we ought to do, we can return to this baptismal font and remember that the good news is that our primary task as Christians is to follow Christ. The good news is that Christianity is as complex and intricate as this world in which we live, and when we follow Christ’s example, we get to discern how we ought to move in this world; we remember that nothing can break the ties that bind us to the sacrificial love of Christ.
And regrettably, being a Christian doesn’t mean that our life will be lead without mistakes. We will mess up individually and collectively in our efforts to live into God’s love and to follow Christ’s example. But hear me when I say there is no shame in imperfection, only in pride that keeps us from seeking help. One of our greatest and heaviest collective sins is the idea that we make our own path, even when it comes to our salvation. Mistakes are part of this world, but what is promised to us in our baptism is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The good news is that, as Paul says, this Spirit intercedes even when words fail, and we are left with only heavy and prayerful sighs, and we don’t know how to go on.
The truth is, the Good News of Christianity is that we are all in it together. It’s why when Collins is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is not her family alone that welcomes her into the household of God. It is all of us. It is all of us who revisit the font, who reaffirm our baptismal vows, and return to the good news that Paul proclaimed all those years ago. The Good News of Christianity is that we can rest in God’s love, Christ’s example, and the Spirit’s guidance, but only when we remember who we are—that at the core of our identity is not where we grew up or our family or the things that surround us, but it is, quite simply, our baptism.
The Good News of Christianity is that it’s incredibly simple and overwhelmingly complex all at the same time; the Good News is that God is present with us in all of life’s circumstances. The Good News is that through the promises we make in our baptismal covenant, the hope of the resurrection is absolutely unrelenting. And the Good News is that nothing, not death, not things yet to come, not anything in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky for Proper 12 A, Romans 8:26-39 on Sunday, July 30, 2023.
[1] https://storycorps.org/stories/wanda-jean-zoeller-and-susan-herndon/
Becca Kello 