Fire, Water, and Freedom

5th Sunday of Easter

Today's Readings: Acts 8:26-40; John 15:1-8

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes we as humans have the tendency to see the world in black and white.. the urge to separate things into categories, especially into good and bad. This way of thinking helps comfort us by giving us the illusion that there is order and that we have control. But that’s just it – an illusion.. and many of us get to the point where we realize this, but it is still easier to ignore the vastness of life, because we like our limits.. we are comfortable in the boxes we have made our home in.. and it’s 100% true what they says, ignorance is bliss.

As Christians though, even though we may fight it, we don’t have the luxury to ignore the gray areas of life.. the paradoxes that exist.. the call to the world ‘outside the box.’ Despite popular belief, the gospel doesn’t actually call us to judgment, separation or the battle between good and bad. The gospel does not charge us to be the separators of categories – herding the masses down one of two paths: righteous and unrighteous. Rather, the gospel acknowledges that all things, that ALL PEOPLE, have an infinite capacity for amazing, miraculous things AND an infinite capacity to harm the earth and one another. Nothing is truly black and white, 100% good or 100% bad – all things are an equal mixture of both; the understanding of our identities as sinners and saints. ONLY when we can accept this reality can we begin to lay down our arms against one another and truly see the world as God see it.

Most of us cannot understand or comprehend ourselves, let alone someone else. This is a scary reality to live in, because we are beings which crave control, order, and ANSWERS. If we hold such a tight reign on ourselves, how then can we turn to love our neighbors without chocking them too… how then can we accept and love our neighbor for who they are, as beautiful, intricate, complex beings, rather than who we think they should be… And how then, I ask you, can we accept the vast, complex mystery that is our God, rather than shoving God into a tiny, simple box that fits neatly on our bookshelf?

Now please understand, I am not calling out this human tendency in order to shame you; there is no shame, no judgment in this observation. We all do it, I do it too, it’s both natural AND how we have been nurtured. And that is why I want to lift it up and analyze and challenge it; to challenge us to imagine a different worldview. We have all been raised in this categorical, dualistic mindset; it is part of our culture. But that does not mean it is the whole truth or that there aren’t other worldviews available.. nor does it mean it aligns with the good news of the gospel. We cannot be transformed without first naming and claiming where we are at and then committing to learning a new and better way.

I bring this up this morning for two reasons: 1) the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch in our first reading and 2) because of verse 6 from our gospel reading in John: “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.” This verse AND baptism have been tools for Christians throughout the centuries for exclusion and I want us to rethink and reimagine what the truth of the matter, the gospel, might actually be.

Most commonly when I hear baptism talked about it is all about a numbers game and/or as afterlife insurance. Again, we strive for control, for quantifiable data, for answers.. We want to be able to say just how many people we’ve baptized and perhaps even go so far as to say that we have even saved their souls from the fiery depths of hell! We like the certainty of being able to say ‘I KNOW I’m going to heaven because I have been baptized.’ I really don’t think, however, that this is what Jesus meant when he commanded the disciples to go and baptize all nations.

First of all, it is not US who saves, but Jesus and that salvation was given to us in his death and resurrection. Baptism is a gift. So I ask you, what gift is God giving us in baptism? Is it the gift of being another tally mark on God’s list of the baptized people of the world? What good does that do? Is it the gift of a shiny golden ticket to heaven to cash in after you die? How then do you spend your time waiting? Baptism is a gift; it is a sacrament, given to humanity from God. It is the visible sign and reminder that God remains present, that God claims you – ALL of you – messy, complex, and imperfect - sinner and saint. It is the gift of an invitation to share in the death and resurrection of Christ himself.

It is the gift of liberation. It is the gift that frees you from all that defies God! Frees you from condemnation both divine and worldly! Frees you from the hamster wheel the world convinces you to keep on spinning! Frees you from the limits others have placed on you or you have placed on yourself.. frees you to live into who you truly are, as God made you.

When Jesus commanded the disciples to go and baptize all nations in the name of the Triune God, I struggle to think he was just asking us to give the gift of being another name in God’s ‘book of life’ (or anything along those lines). Rather, Christ was commanding us to go and liberate our neighbors, to liberate the world of it’s bondage to sin! By making it about the numbers or afterlife insurance, too many of the baptized children of God don’t even realize this is the gift they have been given.. they remain bound to the world’s categories and limits, unaware of their liberation, afraid to be who God made them to be. God offers this gift to all people. This gift is also a promise and reminder that God abides in you and we abide in God. This is the only comfort that we need. This is the perfect love that casts out fear. This is the safety net that allows us to explore the unknown, to break down the walls, to push the limits, to accept the paradoxes of life and lean into the mystery.

Now I know you may be wondering about the verse I mentioned from the gospel, “Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.” Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Pastor, doesn’t this mean there are categories and we will be separated by God?’ That’s a valid worldview, but again I want to challenge it. Fire is scary and often, especially by Christian, shoved into the category of ‘bad.’ It indeed has an infinite capacity for harm; we’ve all seen the destruction of wildfires or how a house can tragically go up in flames. But fire, like ALL things, also has an infinite capacity for good. Fire provides warmth, allows us to cook food, and can burn unwanted things in order to make room for new growth.

There is a grassy/prairie area along the path I walk near my home where the city did a controlled burn at the start of spring. At first it was jarring to see the entire area burnt and charred. Yet just days later I could see tiny new sprouts of life popping up beneath the burnt ground. Today it is almost entirely green and bursting with new life. Perhaps we could all use a bit of a ritualistic controlled burn within our souls (figurative, DO NOT set yourself on fire!). In this way, fire is not bad, rather it’s an agent for transformation. I love the idea that abiding with God means that sometimes we have to do some spring cleaning in our souls; that sometimes you have to pick up the sticks and the weeds that don’t serve you or the world and throw them in the burn pile. I’m thankful to let go of the extra weight and to make extra room for that which is life-giving.

Each one of us holds a vast wildernesses of life inside our souls, teaming with life and also cluttered with weeds and sticks and things that just get in the way. We are all beautiful paradoxes of good AND bad and we are all presented with the same gift from God – life. Liberated life; freed from all that separates us from God, SO THAT we are free to have a relationship with God, which ALWAYS calls us into relationship with one another. There is nothing more beautifully complicated than this.

Thanks be to God. Amen.