Isaiah 49:3-6; 1 Cor. 1:1-3; John 1:29-34; Psalm 40
January 12, 2020
Craig Terlson
Surrender, why don’t ya?
We are not people that like to surrender. I am not a person that likes to surrender - surrender what? Well, our will, our intellect, our feeling that we are not in charge of our own lives, or that we could be wrong about something. Who have you surrendered to… a partner? A child? A parent? Who do I surrender to? You might think, well, my partner of 34 years, Kerry. She’s not here today to back this up, so let’s say sure - I surrender my will to Kerry. But really?
For most of us, it’s very difficult to admit you are wrong, and to say that the other person knows better. And to say, I’m going to follow your lead on this. If we are honest with ourselves, I think we know this is true.
The act, ritual, sacrament of baptism is a form of surrender. But… who do you surrender to? Why do you surrender? And what does it mean to surrender? These are all big, big, questions. Some of us are already baptized, and it is good to reflect on what that means for us. And we can encourage those who are not baptized to take part in this ritual… but there’s a big fat “why” that sits there, challenging us to explain.
This morning, I’d like to blow your mind, just a bit. I want to think really big, mind-stretchingly big, like when you were a child lying in bed at night trying to figure out how big the universe is - that sort of big. But I will also try to gather in the bigness, in order that you don’t just float right on up out of here.
Maybe buckle up.
Who do we surrender to? The quick, Cole’s notes answer is: God. Well, who is that?
There are a plethora of metaphors, poetic, mystical, and even practical that can point us to who God is - I’ve come to like the phrase “the character of God.” But I’m thinking even beyond that this morning. These metaphors come with a warning, some will work for you better than others, results may vary. But you see, here is the thing - God is not God’s name. “God is our name for that which is greater than all, yet present in each.” (Forrest Church)
Let’s start in Greece.
The ancient Greeks were concerned, amongst other things, with trying to figure out how the world and the universe works - notably, how is that some things move? To be specific, how do those 7 planets that we see move around us, and then in turn the earth’s movement, or the sun, or a myriad of things in the sky. Out of these questions came an idea from Aristotle, which he called the Unmoved mover. I won’t go into deep philosophical detail on this, but just to say the question was - what began the movement of all things? What is it that made things change? Aristotle said this in one of his books: "there must be an immortal, unchanging being, ultimately responsible for all wholeness and orderliness in the sensible world".
I’m thinking you hear this and think, that sounds a lot like God. Well, that’s what Thomas Aquinas thought too - and he wrote his major work Summa Theological (13th Century), that laid out the 5 ways to prove the existence of God - #1 on the list - the Unmoved mover.
Now, can you surrender to something as big as that? Or does it seem too conceptual, too idea driven, and not enough flesh as it were?
Again, buckle up.
Recently, I’ve been exploring the work of Paul Tillich. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. He was a theologian whose life work was to put together theology with philosophy, notably existentialism. One of the main metaphors for God that Tillich put forward, and you may have come across this before, is that: God is the Ground of All Being. Or put in another way, God is existence itself. Tillich was not the first to write about this, from the Patristic era, (3rd Century) Origen also spoke of God as the source of all being.
Tillich also put forth that God is not some kind of being that is above all the other beings, or more important than other beings (us), but rather is the source of all being - or as he phrased it, God above God. Think of it this way - you think God is big? Well, God is much bigger than that.
Richard Rohr’s latest book, the Universal Christ, points to a similar notion when he says that Christ is Another Name for Every Thing. Rohr is not the first person to suggest this. And it is good to know that Rohr backs this up with many scriptural passages that speak of the Christ, notably in the writings of Paul. Rohr owns that this is only one lens, or hermeneutic, of looking at the Christ - but it is a very expansive lens.
So wait… are you asking us to surrender, somehow, to existence? Surrender to being part of this whole cosmos, this whole world around us (which to add, Rohr calls a Christ-soaked world)? How do I do that? And Craig, you’ve gone too far. My mind is blown, and wasn’t this homily supposed to be about baptism?
Yes. And surrender.
Because here is the thing - whenever we think we have God figured out, or put God in a box of our own creation, God will break out of that - because God is always bigger than that. Always. In baptism, we surrender to something that is most definitely not us. In other words, baptism is not about you.
Still, and this has come out of much conversation over the past weeks - including looks of concern from Kerry when I talk this way. And I do get it. This is so big it hurts my head - but I need to say, in a good way. I can rest in this bigness, and say yes, not my will, but yours - because this isn’t about me.
“God is our name for that which is greater than all, yet present in each.”
A few practicalities if you will:
Baptism is not about some sort of magical thing making you something that you weren’t before. There has been some belief and teachings in a linkage between the ritual of baptism and salvation - and I’ve said in other homilies that everything I have read, and experienced, leads me to believe that this sort of teaching is wrong. Rather, baptism is an awareness of what has already happened - through God’s ultimate grace, mercy, and a love that will blow your mind right out the door… we have salvation already. Baptism recognizes and affirms that.
This is not to say that mystical things don’t happen during this ritual. This community baptized me, and there were some strange things that happened on that day - I still reflect on them, all these years later.
The other piece I have struggled with is the connection of baptism to some sort of church membership - again, my own findings on this, show that this is not a good connection. And increasingly, this connection has been shown as one of the reasons fewer people are choosing to be baptized. BUT. And it’s a big but! I’m starting to get it.
In the same way that it is hard to surrender to something as mystical and metaphorical as the UnMoved mover, or the Ground of All being - it is hard to understand that baptism welcomes you to the Kingdom of God. How big is that?
In honesty, I think I am coming around to understanding the need to commit deeply to a community through the act of baptism, and to say yes to this community, to surround myself with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and those I share my life with. I get it. Baptism into a community is baptism into the community of God. It is a window into all the big and wonderful things that I have been talking about.
Now, I haven’t talked at all about the why - why surrender - and I will close off the homily by saying this (knowing there is so much more that can be said… but there’s always next year).
My beloved.
Wow.
I titled a previous homily, “who wouldn’t want to hear that.”
My beloved.
In today’s Matthew telling, it is of note to notice here that Jesus does not baptize himself, but gets John to do it (yet, another surrender), and at the climax of the story, the spirit descends, and a voice is heard - this is my Son the beloved… etc.
Jesus models for us the divine indwelling - God with us - and how we are called to be in union with God in all that we do, and live, and breathe - and here the model is a surrender by Jesus. A surrender to love. And the key is in “the beloved” - for we are all the beloved, and we are surrounded, dipped, dunked, soaked into and by love.
That is what baptism is, a surrender to love.
Who wouldn’t want to do that?