A Baptismal Sermon
Preached August 5, 2001
Today we are going to baptize LaQuan Vaughn..
It is a delight and a wonder to have this baby-child with us this morning, for all kinds of reasons.
One reason is when babies are with us, our memories get stirred up.
Of course, we don’t remember much about when we were babies ourselves, but we can almost grasp flashes of memory, fragments of images,,,of tastes…of touch….
There is, in the deepest part of my own memory, the smell of apples simmering on the stove, with a hint of ginger cookies baking in the oven, accompanied by clashing and whirring sounds from ancient kitchen instruments— those smells and those noises meant my grandmother was somewhere around.
It is good for us to take time, now and then, to remember places and people and sights and touches and smells that surrounded us when we were very young. Those memories are gifts of God.
Those memories of people..and sights..and touches and smells that are memories of people, and sights, and touches, and smells that told you
YOU BELONGED. You belonged to a particular people, people who made applesauce a certain way, or made up their own recipes for ginger cookies that no one outside the family could use.
Knowing who we belong to is important. It matters that we can look at one particular person and say "that’s MY mother"…"that’s MY Pop-Pop"…that’s MY big sister or little brother.
And we heard our parents say "that’s MY daughter" or "that’s MY son", and when we heard the fierce pride in their voices, and the love, we felt safe and secure and loved, because we know where where we belong, and why.
All of us – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends – we all tell LaQuan every day, in every way we can, how glad we are that she is with us. Laquan’s family loves her, and teaches her every day that she belongs to a family….that she fits into a neighborhood…that she belongs to a circle of friends…we make sure that she knows that she BELONGS. You are MY daughter, we say…my granddaughter…you have a home and a church in Baltimore…you BELONG here in this place and this time with us. And because LaQuan knows all these things, because we teach her all these things, she can grow up wisely and well, safe and secure, knowing that there is a very special place for her with us..
Today, God is saying to LaQuan – You are MINE.
In the water of baptism, LaQuan is marked as Christ’s own forever.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is telling LaQuan, today and always, you belong to me.
And because LaQuan belongs to Jesus, there is a place for her in eternity, in the kingdom of God, with her Lord and Savior.
As she grows up, Jesus will be telling LaQuan the same things every day of her life.
When she goes to school – God will say, You are MINE, little one, learn well.
When she deals with bumps and bruises that hurt her body …or with playground bullies who wound her spirit, God will whisper in her ear, you are MINE, little one, heal and be well.
When LaQuan makes new friends, falls in love, begins a family of her own ..God will remind her, You are MINE, little one, love well.
When she makes mistakes, feels alone, or ashamed.. God will say, You are MINE, little one, and I’ll never let you go. I’m right here with you, holding out my hand, c’mon LaQuan, come on child, grab hold and let me bring you back
If LaQuan begins to drift away, or to look for a place to belong outside the Kingdom of God.. God will say You are MINE, little one,
And God will say, I’ll do whatever it takes to win you back..I’ll dazzle you with miracles, I’ll give you gift after gift in prayer, I’ll even die for you in Jerusalem and throw open the gates of heaven just for you…because you are MINE, LaQuan, you are mine, little one, from this day forward, and I will never let you go.
What Jesus says to LaQuan today he has said to us in our own baptisms.
We are his, and he will never let us go.
Just like LaQuan, we are Christ’s own, for all eternity,
And today we welcome her into the household of God,
Where she belongs and we belong, now and forever AMEN.