The Rev. Dan Rondeau

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 | Psalm 19:7-14 | James 4:7-12 | Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

It is wonderful to be back among you, to be back here to worship with you, to be back here to share what I can of the Good News of God's love for us. When I left with your love and good wishes in May, I left to seek renewal of body, mind, and spirit. I had a plan. I'm happy to report that things didn't go as planned, but that God's grace energized and guided every moment of the leave and it was perfect for what I needed. I come back to you filled with a new energy and much refreshed; I come back to you after study and rest with a new commitment to the ministry to which the Lord has called me; I come back to you with a heart full of gratitude for the wonderful gift you gave me and Carol and my family this summer. Thank you.

Today, at our 10:00 am service Taylor Ashley Menne will be baptized. She is five months old. Her parents will promise to raise her in the Christian life and faith. They will make the promises of the Baptismal Covenant for their daughter while renewing their own promises with the rest of us. After our service they will return to their home to live up to and live into their promises, and so will we.

I have written a letter to Taylor and I want to share it with you. The letter is written in the light of the scripture readings we have just heard. The letter is written in the light of our current challenges as Christians and Episcopalians living and working at St. Margaret's.

Dear Taylor,

Our God has chosen to speak to us through the words of the Holy Bible. As you will come to know we share readings from the Bible every Sunday when we gather to pray and worship and thank our God. On your Baptismal Sunday we have shared some wonderful readings from the Bible. I believe they are special for you because this is such a special day for you. I am reading this letter to your Mom and Dad and sisters on your Baptismal Day, I hope they will share it with you as you grow. I am reading this letter out loud to your brothers and sisters in the faith family you will join by your Baptism. I hope that as you grow up, you will discover many wonderful brothers and sisters in your parish family.

I have put a copy of the today's scripture readings with this letter so you will always have them. For me, the readings we have shared on your Baptismal Day can be summed up this way: never underestimate the power of God; never presume to know everything about the grace of God at work in the world; do look for the grace of God to be at work in places others think impossible; do not judge others, you have quite enough to work on within yourself; be passionate about the work of the kingdom, nothing is more important than that.

Taylor, today you are joining a family that believes you are a minister of God by your Baptism. As you grow you are to join us in our life's work: to represent Christ in our world and continue his work to reveal the great love God has for everyone; we are a people who want to bring others into a healthy relationship with God, with each other, and with all of God's creation.

As a parish family we have made a "mission statement" to help us focus the things we say and do as we carry out our life's work. You are joining a family that wants "to know Christ, and make him known." Your Mom and Dad and your sisters are already learning more and more about Christ and will share what they know with you. May you be a wonderful learner as you grow. And just wait until you begin to discover the gifts God has given you so that you can make Christ known.

You see, Taylor, we are a people who believe that God has given each of us special gifts to use as we represent Christ in our world. We are a people who believe that we are the strongest when we share our gifts with each other and the world and when we represent Christ together. I can hardly wait to see what gifts you bring to our family to be shared. We are blessed by God to have you join us today; we are a stronger family already because of the gifts you bring.

Look again at the readings proclaimed on your Baptismal Day. You will see that God surprises people all the time. Sometimes we forget this lesson and we try to tell each other that God shouldn't or couldn't behave in certain ways. You will see that Joshua tried to tell Moses to make Eldad and Medad shut-up because they didn't follow the rules to receive the spirit in the tent of meeting. And you will see that John, that beloved disciple of Jesus, was trying to make someone else stop healing, all because he wasn't one the close disciples of Jesus. I hope you will never underestimate the power of God, Taylor; it will always surprise you. I hope that you will always look for the grace of God to be at work in places others think impossible. Maybe that will be your gift to us: to help us see the grace of God at work in impossible places.

I want to share a little story with you on your Baptismal Day. I think it is about sharing gifts; I think it is about knowing Christ and making Christ known. Partly I share it because I hope your Mom and Dad will live the way our Missionary hero does in this story. Partly I share it because I hope you will find the people of St. Margaret's living the way the hero of this story lives. For as you grow up you will find that the Baptismal Covenant we all make involves doing the work God has given us to do. The Baptismal Covenant commits us to work with the power of God, bringing God's grace into impossible places.

Here is the story.

A missionary was shipwrecked, tossed into the sea he washed up at the edge of a remote native village. Half dead from exposure to the elements and the wreck of his vessel, he was taken in by the villagers and nursed back to health. Subsequently he lived with the villagers for the next twenty years. During that time, he confessed no faith. He sang no hymns; he preached no sermons. He neither read from nor taught any Scripture. He made no personal faith claim.

But when the villagers became ill, he attended to them, sometimes long into the night. When the people were hungry, he gave to them from his own supply of food. When they were lonely, he was available to talk. He tutored the uneducated, patiently. He always took the side of those who were wronged. And there was no human condition among the villagers with which he could not and did not identify.

After twenty years had passed, other missionaries came from the sea to the village and began talking to the people about a man named Jesus. After hearing the stories about Jesus, the natives insisted that he had lived among them for the past twenty years. One of them said to the missionaries, "Come, we will introduce you to the man about whom you have been speaking." The missionaries were led to a hut, and there they found their long-lost, fellow missionary who had been given up for dead.

Taylor, your Mom and Dad know Jesus. I want to close my letter to you with a prayer for them and a prayer for us. This is my gift to you on your Baptismal Day. I make my prayer so that we will all have a better chance, by God's grace, to be like the hero of the story: men and women who make Jesus known to you by what we do with the gifts God has given us.

My Prayer for your Mom and Dad and all the people of St. Margaret's: Heavenly Father, you have invited Taylor's Mom and Dad, Renee and Michael, and all of us to know your Son, Jesus Christ.

Bless Renee and Michael and all of us that we may more and more come to know your Son through reading, learning, and inwardly marking the Holy Scriptures you have entrusted to our hearts. May Taylor be blessed by what we know and share.

Bless Taylor's Mom and Dad and all of us that we may more and more come to know your Son through the sacraments of your Church, especially in the Bread of heaven and the cup of salvation. May Taylor be blessed by what we know and share.

Bless Renee and Michael and all of us that we may more and more come to know your Son in prayer, and worship, and in serving others. May Taylor be blessed by what we know and share.

Bless Renee and Michael and bless us that we may respond to your grace and more and more reveal your love, as we make Christ known through all that we say and all that we do. And may Taylor, and indeed your whole world beginning right here, be blessed by what we know and share. Amen.

Taylor, these are my thoughts, and this is my prayer on your Baptismal Day. Your loving brother in Christ, Amen.