+At 10:52 pm on Monday February 18 I received the following email from Jesse’s great grandmother Laurel:
Dear Cathy, Jesse Stephen was born at 9:22 P.M. 8 pds. 9 oz. 21 in. Mother & baby doing fine. [signed] Very Happy great grandmother better known as Gigi.
I cherish that email. First because Nancy and I used to share stories of our mothers and their repeated befuddlement with email. We both marveled that even amidst their frustration, our mothers still persevered in communicating over the information superhighway. Secondly, I cherish it because not even two weeks later, Laurel was gone.
Now, if Laurel were still alive, she’d be sitting right over there, beaming with utter joy at this blessed event. Of course even though they aren’t physically here, we know that both Laurel and Ralph are smiling down on us as we baptized another Cammarata (fourth generation!) into this fold.
When I pulled up Laurel’s birth announcement email earlier this week, I began to wonder what kind of email Laurel would send Jesse today, if the information superhighway reached heaven.
Dear Jesse,
Gigi here. You are such a handsome little boy. I wish I could be there to hold you, but know that my spirit is with you today, as it will be forever.
I looked up the Gospel reading for this Sunday and was pleased to find it was the story of the Good Samaritan—it’s a story you’ll hear again and again as you grow-up.
We all strive to be the Good Samaritan and I certainly expect—and hope and pray—that more often than not you’ll be just that: a Good Samaritan. But the truth is this story isn’t so much about being the Samaritan as it is about accepting that throughout life, at different times, you’ll be each of these characters.
When you’ve grown up there’ll be times when you get so busy that you’ll pass by folks in need, you’ll put off visiting your aging parents, you may even miss your own daughter’s soccer game. In other words, there will be times you are the Priest from this story. Respected as a community leader, yet too absorbed in your tasks to remember your responsibilities as a Christian. It’s not bad, it’s just a fact of life. We get busy, we get distracted and we forget.
There will also be times, as you grow and become an adult, a husband and a father, that you will be the Levite…that you’ll sense needs in your community but fear will keep you from getting involved. After all, stepping into another’s issues, another’s needs, another’s troubles can be messy, unpredictable and downright scary.
It happens. Trust me, Jesse…there will be times you’re too distracted or too scared to be a Good Samaritan.
And there will be other times..many times I hope…that you’ll be the Good Samaritan. That you’ll see your neighbor, you’ll feel compassion and you’ll get involved and do mercy; you’ll reach out, loving your neighbor, as you too have been loved.
As you too have been loved.
You see, more than being the Priest, more than being the Levite, more even than being the Good Samaritan, the most important character in this story is the Traveler. The one robbed and beaten and left half dead along the side of the road.
Jesse, there will be lots of times that you’ll need help, that you’ll feel lonely. Or scared. Or hurt. It’s part of life. We need each other. That’s the point of the story---we all need each other. We are each other’s neighbor, we are each other’s keeper, we are each other’s Good Samaritan.
When you get baptized in a few moments everyone here will say: We receive you into the household of God.
The household. This is the lesson of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the lesson of being baptized into a community of faith—we’re in this together. Today everyone here is pledging to care for you, to support you, to love you, to cry with you, to laugh with you. Everyone in attendance will watch you grow and be ready to step in whenever and wherever and however you may need help. It’s one the greatest things about being a member of a church, and one of the things I love about Good Shepherd. But today isn’t just about Jesse and the Church of the Good Shepherd. Today is about the household of God where everyone is our neighbor. We must look out for everyone—not just here in Parkside, not just in your neighborhood in Snyder, not just in western new york…not just your friends and family.
Everyone. Everywhere is your neighbor. So yes, this means when they need help you need to help them but, and this is the point so many of us forget: everyone, everywhere is there for you too. Because no matter how much we hope and pray you’ll always be the Good Samaritan, there will be times when you’re the traveler and you’ll be in need, you’ll be in trouble, you’ll be afraid. And when that happens, because you are a member of the household of God—a vast and all encompassing community of Love---there will be a Good Samaritan reaching out to you. A Good Samaritan who will help you in thought, word and deed.
For that’s what we do in this household of God. We help each other, no exceptions.
That’s the wonder of baptism, Jesse, and it’s the wonder of God’s Love given to us in Jesus Christ and experienced through all those who love you: from this day and forevermore: you are never ever alone. And for that I am very grateful.
Love,
Gigi.
Amen.
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