Calling Your Name

BAPTISM OF THE LORD SUNDAY
Reading: Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, Isaiah 43:1-7
 Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, January 13th, 2013

A printable PDF file can be found here

A Boston minister was about to perform the sacrament of infant baptism. The proud parents came forward and presented their infant daughter to the minister, who took the child in his arms, turned toward the font, and suddenly realized he didn't know the child's name. He turned to the father and whispered, "What is the child's name?"

The father replied in a whisper, "Spin Donna." The minister thought this was a rather unusual name, but went ahead with the ritual, saying, "Spin Donna, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."  The father became furious and the mother burst into tears. They took their baby back and stormed out of the sanctuary. After the service, the couple was waiting in the minister's study.

The father glared at the pastor, saying, "How could you give our child such a ridiculous name?" The pastor looked at the man in disbelief. "I didn't make it up. I asked you what her name is and you said, 'Spin Donna.' " The father said, "You idiot, I said that it's pinned on her!" The father then showed the minister a small note with the name Elizabeth, pinned to the baby's baptism dress”. 

Today in the church calendar is a Sunday that’s known as ‘Baptism of the Lord Sunday' when congregations that follow a lectionary focus on passages related to baptism. Our passage from the book of Isaiah contained the phrase “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you”.

It’s no secret that different churches, even reformed Protestant churches, have different views regarding baptism. Actually they are not that different when you analyze them. They have more to do with disagreements about the right time and the right way of administering the sacrament rather than the actual meaning of it.

One thing the different traditions have in common is that Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. The baptism of John, in the wilderness was for those who wanted to prepare themselves for the Kingdom, so that when it arrived, they would be ready. Through repentance they were entering in to what God was doing in the world.

At the baptism of Jesus, God’s ownership and special relationship to His Son is revealed through the Spirit coming down as a dove and a voice from heaven declaring “This is my beloved Son”. Both the dove and the voice were signs of the particular claim God had upon the life of Jesus. 

In the baptisms that we read of in the Book of Acts they are united by the fact that in each case they include the recognition that God has a claim upon our lives. Be it an individual in a carriage like the Ethiopian, or, as in a number of cases, a whole household, again the sacrament is a sign of God’s claim on our lives and of the individual or communities willingness to live a life that shows signs of God’s ownership.

In the history of the church, be it family occasions of infant baptism when the child of a Christian family is marked with the water and named as a child of God, or be it an adult baptism in a river or baptistery that is accompanied by words of testimony and statements of personal faith, again a uniting feature is that through the waters of baptism, recognition is given to the claim of God upon our lives.

The naming part of the ceremony is important. The couple in the earlier story was right to be upset. Names are important. Names are a sign of belonging. When somebody calls us by name we know they are speaking to us. When somebody knows our names, even those funny stupid special names that we sometimes coin for each other, such names are a sign of relationship and intimacy.

In Johns Gospel Jesus, the Good Shepherd, speaks of His followers saying, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). The implication in the wording is that to be a disciple is to be a person who hears and recognizes the voice of God calling their name and responds through following the Masters lead.

When I had three dogs they did not have a huge vocabulary. They recognized certain words. Some phrases such as 'Biscuit', 'Dinner' and 'Walk' produced a response . Yet they also individually recognized when their own name was being called.

When I said “Lucy come here” it was not Harpo or Ricco that came running. When I said “Ricco come here” it was not usually Lucy or Harpo that came running. When I say “Harpo come here” then Harpo considers the request… but that’s another story! The point is that when a name is called it’s a sign of a personal claim upon a life.

God claims us as God’s own people. Baptism is a sign of God’s claim upon our lives. God calls us by name and wants us to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Baptism of the Lord Sunday is a day to remember that through your baptism the Lord has called you by name. It’s an occasion for you to claim your baptismal promises by accepting your identity as a precious and much loved child of the Lord. It’s a time to faithfully respond to the fact that God calls you to serve others in Christ’s name.

Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, South Ridge Village, in Alberta, tells this story in a sermon relating to our Isaiah passage.

”A rich fellow bought an old organ, which had been magnificent in its day, but now was dilapidated, banged up and hardly played at all. So he called in experts from all over the world, hoping they could restore it. When they had finished the organ looked like new. The little angels were shiny and clean; the ornamental carved leaves had smooth curves and corners. The botchy varnish was gone. The only problem was that the insides were sitting in boxes on the floor. The owner continued to advertise for organ experts to fix and restore his organ. But no one could do it. One day a little wizenly, half-blind old man knocked on the door. The Butler laughed at him saying, “What makes you think you can fix it? We’ve had experts here from all over the world!.”

But the owner overheard the discussion and answered saying that it couldn’t hurt to try. So the stranger set out to work. After several days, he had the organ operating like new. When asked how he could do this, he replied, “I made it.” "

 God who made each one of us is the only One who can truly fix, restore and give new life to each one of us. It doesn’t matter how we may feel; God can and does and will lift us up.

What I haven’t told you about our text today is that Isaiah wrote his words at a time when Israel was going through the worst of times. A time of exile and feeling as though the judgment of God was upon them. Isaiah didn’t write this passage for a cozy service of baptism but for a time of turmoil and despair.

Last year following Hurricane Sandy we were in a mess.  We had the stuffing knocked out of us! A New Year is  a good time to be recalling our baptisms and the words that God speaks to those He calls His own. In that context listen again to some of those words from Isaiah as Eugene Peterson paraphrases them in “The Message”

“But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob,  the One who got you started, Israel: "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.  When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end, because … I am God”

Baptism of the Lord Sunday is about remembering there is a God, the Great “I am” who calls us by name and claims us through the waters of baptism as His own. It’s a day to give our lives afresh into God’s hands and remember He wants to work in and through our lives.

I encourage you today to claim your baptismal promises. When you passed through the waters, God was with you and God remains with you. The Reformers such as Martin Luther talked to their people in terms of “Growing into” their baptisms. They spoke of baptism not as a sacrament of arrival, but as a sacrament of new beginning.

Every day lived in the presence of Jesus Christ is a day of new beginnings. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow are days that have our names written on them. Let us therefore go forward in faith, to the Glory of God, the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


       Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.