Blessings Upon Blessings! - The Rev. C. Dean Taylor

The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
(Baptism of Two sets of Twins at 10:00!)

What a great day this is, a day to celebrate God’s blessings multiplied!  It is the pattern of things, after all, throughout the whole Bible.  We hope and we ask.  We seek, and knock, and listen for some kind of answer. We go through hard, hard times along the way.  But God’s blessings come through even more than we could imagine.  God’s blessings abound.

When our first child was born, I’ll never forget, my wife and I were sitting in that hospital room in a kind of shock, kind of dazed, and the chaplain from the seminary dropped by for a prayer. 

I looked down at this, this bundle of a new human being, right there in front of us, just like that, and I looked at the chaplain and said, “What are we going to do?” And I’ll never forget what he said. He said, “Ah, don’t worry about it too much.  He’s not really you’re child; he’s God’s child, you know.”

          Which is the good news of this day.  They’re not any of them really our children; they’re God’s children.  That is their primary identity, who they “are” essentially, in essence. 

          That means that from the moment of their existence—or even before, if we can imagine that—the Great God almighty has loved, loved, each child, each one, with a love that nothing can ever diminish. Nothing can ever lessen. Nothing can ever defeat—not even death itself. 

 No matter what each of these children does in this lifetime or the next, or fails to do, the love of God will be as strong and as constant as the rays of the sun on these hot days we’ve seen lately. 

          These children are beloved.  Just for being here. Just for showing up at the party.  The party would not be quite the same without their presence.  Each child is beloved by God as if that child were the only child, the only human being that ever lived.  Each child is beloved by God. 

2.

It is the most important single fact of their existence.  It is the fact that saves them and will save them always, from whatever bad out there that takes away from God’s good creation.  It is who they are, primarily and essentially—they ARE God’s child.

          That’s the good news.  God loves each of these children.  But here’s the bad news, at least for you parents.  They don’t know that.  Part of the human condition we used to call “fallen”, or “original sin,” but I think a better term would be “original blindness.”  They do not know that they are beloved by God. They don’t know who they are.  The human journey is a quest to find that out for themselves.

          And parents, it is up to you to begin telling them this.  Or even more scary, to show them by your example that they are beloved by God.  Because if you don’t tell them who they are, then I will guarantee that someone else will. 

          They will turn on their TV’s commercials and learn that having more things will make them happy.

          They will watch violence in movies and video games and learn that violence solves problems; that when someone hurts you, you get even; that you get ahead by stepping on the person below you.  They’ll learn that in an afternoon of TV.   

          And how can you as parents teach these children a different way of life? A different identity as God’s child? 

How can you teach them a way of life that is Christ like, that is centered on generosity not greed, forgiveness not revenge, kindness not aggression, love not fear?  How can you do that, parents? You can’t.  At least, not alone.

          You’ve heard the expression, “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, I’m here to tell you that in this day and age, morally speaking, “It takes a Church family to raise a child.”  And that’s who we all are, God’s family.

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We take care of each other, we teach each other, and we learn from each other.  And we help raise each other’s children. Which is to say this:  Mike, Meredith, Bryan, Jamie: Bring these children to Sunday School! 

It’s a tough world that they’re going to grow up in.  They need all the help they can get.  They need to tools of the faith—the stories of the Bible, the bread and wine of the sacrament, the liturgy, the teachings, what we believe to be true about life.

They need to know all their brothers and sisters out there, their aunts and uncles and cousins, the whole family.  They need to know Jesus, not just as an idea or concept, but as friend, and Lord, and savior.  As one who shows them God’s love like no other. Parents, your children need to know who they are as God’s beloved children. 

          So, let us take in these promises we are about to make.  Hold them up and mean it when we say, “I will, with God’s help.”  And then, “Will you support these persons in their life in Christ—“We will.”  

And then, let’s celebrate with a party that begins with communion at this table, and continues in the Parish Hall.  Let us celebrate the incredible abundance of God’s blessings multiplied.  Let the party begin.