The Baptism of William Prouse,
Blackburn Cathedral, Sunday 17 July 2011.
“when we cry Abba! Father”. Romans 8.15.
This is a very special moment for us all, and especially for young William, although
he won’t realize it. Neither will he realize that there will now be 3 sermons, not one!
‘To William’, ‘To the Parents’ and ‘To us all’.
To William.
Dear William,
Today is your church birthday when everyone will make more fuss of you than
normal – and many of them will be wearing strange faces or odd garments and it will
all happen in a large space with a swimming pool. It may feel as if you are drowning
but it’s nothing to what you have been through recently. And anyway, there are
plenty of folk around – including you mum – who can act promptly if anything goes
wrong.
That’s really what today is all about. This is not the pattern of the nursery or bath
time even - for that is for your family. Today is about joining a much bigger family,
gathered round a huge table and under the biggest roof in town. That’s because you –
like us – will be joined to God’s family which is the biggest family in the world. The
head of this family is not easy to spot. It’s not like your dad, who takes you out of
your cot and whose rather thinning hair you can pull. Or granddad with that funny
beard which is even closer to hand. It will take time to get to know God the Father.
We can pick up clues to what he does by how others react to him or the stories written
about him. For instance, He doesn’t like food being dropped on the floor. You’ll be
good at that. But he is the kind of Father who gets under your high chair, scoops up
the food with hands that look like your mums and re-makes it into something even
more exciting for consumption on another day and in another place. That’s why some
of the stories about this Almighty Father call him ‘abba’, daddy, because he is happy
doing the grand things but also the very small and mucky things – even bearing some
of the things which really hurt.
God the Father is worth getting to know. Persevere. Mummy and Daddy will teach
you some simple things to say to him, especially before meals. If you’re really
unlucky, Granddad with his mates will sing The Blackburn Mass by Davy! But don’t
worry. We all have our different ways of celebrating in this bigger family to which
you now belong.
To The Parents.
Dear Daniel and Liz.,
Congratulations on this priceless gift which you have brought into the world as cocreators with God the Father, whom we can still call ‘Abba’, daddy.
In your professional careers, you are both involved with setting people free – from
wrongful accusation on the one hand and from the pangs and complications of childbirth on the other. Indeed, this passage from Paul’s Epistle to The Romans, chapter 8,
where Paul talks about the labour pains of creation could be dedicated to all
obstetricians. Now you have together set free a little life that will be great fun but
also something of a challenge.
You have set him free – but for what? You have chosen the Christian structure in
which to set him free. Like Shakespeare discovering the sonnet structure, it allows us
to be so creative if we observe some basic rules. And like Shakespeare, the content is
about love. There are many other structures you could have chosen – materialism,
hedonism, the Smart car Preservation society - but we are delighted that you have
chosen Christianity, in which we too have poured our lives. So you, like us, have
chosen to place William’s freedom in the hands of Almighty God and this structure
sets us free from a private dialect of self to be given to others and to God. It is on God
that our hope is founded and we must watch each others backs to ensure that we don’t
become ensnared by lesser goals. You will of course take great care that William
doesn’t get hooked on that which is superficial or too selfish. Archbishop Rowan
Williams warned society long ago about the premature sexualization of our children.
It is a warning that now keeps surfacing from a variety of directions and one which
we might heed as we approach the great dressing-up box of childhood.
An Australian consultant in palliative care has just done some research which
identifies the five greatest regrets which dying people harbour. One of them is
working so hard that they missed their children growing up. We clergy hear that so
often though we’re not terribly good at acknowledging it in our own lives. You too
will be warned and I’m sure it will be heeded.
You will have chosen William’s godparents with care. The family structure is also
stunningly good when things go wrong and of course there are people in this wider
family who might also be of help, should you need it. We are all in this work of
freedom, love and reconciliation together.
Finally, To the Congregation.
William’s baptism will remind us of the Christian Hope. That is not to be confused
with the potential which is in this little body but rather of the end of all our being. It
is a corporate hope which we, like William, enter as individuals.
If we found ourselves parked in a municipal cot in Romania or South Africa, awaiting
adoption, we would yearn for the time when we would recognize our rescuer and cry,
Abba, father, daddy. But our lives are not quite that simple. We are overlaid by cares
and sophistication so that the face of the rescuer becomes feint. However, the rescuer
and the promise is no less real however difficult our circumstances. Whilst William
will suffer from stomach cramps, pangs of hunger or soiled nappies, he will know
when help comes and the relief on his face will be clear. So we too must retain our
hope in the fulfilment of our rescue, even though we feel hopelessly compromised,
hurt by the Revelations of The News of the World, caught in the financial freeze or
just discomforted by the ravages of age.
As St.Paul says in this great and challenging passage from Romans, we may well get
worn down by impatience or discomfort as we work through the challenges of life
both sacred and secular. He knew that as well as anyone of his age. He encourages
us to be patient, constant, alert and waiting to welcome the rescue when it comes
when like William, our faces will break open with joy as we say Abba, father, daddy.
Amen.