Circle me, Lord:
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep hope within.
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep peace within.
Keep evil out.
Amen.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Luke: We are the Church of The Good Shepherd and we will lay down our lives for you. For we are the Body of Christ and it is our joy to bring you fully into this Body today.
Welcome, welcome to the household of God, welcome to our family. We will be there for you, and your parents, no matter what. To use the vernacular—Ken, Jessica, Luke---we’ve your back.
In the 1st century , in the Holy Land…as a matter of fact, in the 21st century in the Holy Land… shepherds physically lie down to serve as the gate to a sheep fold, to protect their herd.
Jesus tells us, in today’s Gospel, that he will do the same, that he will lay down his life for us, his sheep. And of course he did—Jesus is our Good Shepherd. And throughout his life, his actions as that Good Shepherd give us an example, a template, a formula for how we are to live in community.
A model beautifully expressed in today’s epistle from the first letter of John:
“We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another…Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” In this quotation John is describing Community—and it’s the community of the Good Shepherd, both literally and figuratively, we have here.
Yes Luke, we have your back. No matter where you go, no matter what life brings you, we’ll always be here, you can count on us. For by signing the baptismal certificate, by saying, as you all will in a few moments, “we will”—we’re doing more than being polite church members doing what your Rector asks you to do….we’re committing ourselves, individually and collectively, to Luke and Ken and Jessica. We are saying: We Will Help. We will be there. Whenever Luke stumbles, whenever he falls. Whenever Jessica or Ken stumble, whenever they fall: we will be there for them. Because that’s what communities of faith do, that’s what the members of Christ’s body do: they watch out for, care for, adore, cherish and protect one another. Just like the Good Shepherd.
So although this is a GREAT day—I mean who doesn’t love a baptism---it’s a sobering day as well. For we are making a solemn vow. A solemn vow to this precious little boy and reinforcing the one we have already made to each other—we are vowing to be faithful to him and to each other, come what may.
It is a vow we make and a vow we reinforce all the time…just as I said last week….we make and reinforce this vow each and every time we exchange the Peace, each and every time we share communion. The Peace and Communion reinforce this vow but a baptism?----Baptism is the vow itself.
Baptism is the root of our faith. Baptism is the bond which connects us all---across socio economic, racial and gender lines; across political, parish, diocesan and denominational boundaries--we are joined through the fundamental statement of our faith: The Baptismal Covenant. There maybe a phrase here and there that we would re-word, there might even be moments of time when we don’t believe parts of it, but the Baptismal Covenant is our guidebook. The church can function without Bishops, without Priests, without Deacons. The church can function without provinces, dioceses and deaneries. The church can function without a building to call it’s own. The church can do without a lot. But the church absolutely positively must have two things: people and principles.
The Baptismal Covenant lays out our principles and then the action of baptism and all that comes after baptism is the work of the people. The work of being the Body of Christ in the world. The work of being there for one another, strengthening our resolve and our resources so when we go out into the world we are able to do so knowing that there is a cadre of people behind us, supporting us, encouraging us. Loving us.
There’s a wonderful Celtic Prayer, I used it at the beginning of this sermon:
Circle me, Lord:
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep hope within.
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep peace within.
Keep evil out.
I used it because it’s a great description of just what a good and competent shepherd does for his or her sheep: a Good and Competent Shepherd keeps hope, light and peace within the sheepfold. And it is a great description of Jesus, as The Good Shepherd. It’s also a good description of what the Body of Christ does for all of us, what we do for each other, what we are committing to do for Luke, all the days of his life.
Luke, no matter where you go, no matter how far you stray, there is a community of people, gathering at the corner of Jewett and Summit each and every week keeping hope alive and doubt at bay, working to keep the darkness waning and the Light of Love turned on. Praying for you, praying that Peace will always and forever, be in your heart. For we are the Good Shepherd in this world and you, our precious Luke? You’re our newest sheep. +
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