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Epiphany Lutheran Church St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, June 29, 2003 Two Apostles and a Baby Today, we celebrate the lives of two primary Apostles, Peter and Paul, and the baptism of Matthew Robert, child of God. The lessons appointed for this day do not show very clearly our two apostles Peter and Paul, so I have chosen a passage from Acts which does show that in spite of their earlier disagreement over preaching to the Gentiles, Peter and Paul have become strong allies in the recruitment of non-Jews. Earlier Peter had been dead set against preaching to the Gentiles while Paul always felt that his calling was specifically to the Gentiles. Peter had a vision while he was on the rooftop - a sheet was being lowered down filled with all kinds of animals, reptiles and wild birds; he was told to eat, but he responded that he had never eaten anything unclean. He was told that he should not consider anything God made as unclean. That vision changed Peter forever: Peter later says about his new insight, "I now realize that it is true that God treats everyone on the same basis. Whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what race he belongs to." As for Paul, right from his conversion, he was directed by the Lord to go to the Gentiles. Paul says that the Lord stood by him and told him, "Don't be afraid! You have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem, and you must do the same in Rome." In the lesson that was read, you might well expect Paul to become angry with those guys from Peter's group that went to Antioch to tell the Gentiles they must become Jews before they could become Christians and worship the Lord. But, it was Peter's message that signaled that the two men were in agreement; that both Peter and Paul saw the wider vision of God's plan to include Gentiles. But the two men had another thing in common: their preaching. They were preachers and they preached using their own experiences to show how God's love had supported and sustained them. Luke tells us that the whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. Now, that's good preaching. Sermons and preaching have been part of the life of the church for centuries. Preaching in the early church was done primarily "on the street corner." There were no buildings which proclaimed "the mighty acts of God" in the early times; they had to go out onto the street corners. Today preaching is done primarily within the community of believers. Perhaps Peter and Paul are the fathers of the art of preaching. Certainly they provided the model for preaching Christ to the public. Preachers are not always well received. Through the centuries, some leaders were harmed by those who wanted to keep the status quo. We could start with Stephen who was stoned for his preaching. Peter and Paul both were imprisoned many times for their preaching. Down through the centuries, even the church turned on its own preachers. The church killed John Huss for his preaching. It banned Martin Luther from preaching. Thomas Cramere of England was beheaded by the Queen. Samuel Simon Schmucker of Gettysburg was defeated for his American Lutheranism in the late nineteenth century. During the early second millennium, the church dropped preaching the Word. It was Martin Luther who restored preaching to its place of importance in the service. Today, in the Lutheran Church, we would feel cheated if we did not hear a sermon on Sunday morning. In fact, here at Epiphany, we even print out the sermon to be taken as an evangelism tool to someone who could not make it to church. And, we post the sermons on our web site on the Internet. Is it God's Word that we preach? We often think that only the Bible contains God's Word, or the readings we use from various parts of the Bible. But, we also received God's Word in the confession and absolution, in the greeting, in the Introit, the Kyrie, the Hymn of Praise, in the sermon, in the service of Holy Communion. Yes, even in the hymns we sing, the music we play. It is interesting to find that seminarians often question - generally right after they have had a course in preaching - "Am I presumptuous to think that God would speak through me?" Answering this is not so much what the preacher says - though that is important - but, it is the Holy Spirit who is also active in the listeners, who makes each person sensitive to the words of the service and they speak to each person's heart. It isn't the skill of the preacher, though that makes the Holy Spirit's job easier. God's Spirit is with each of us as we listen to the words of the service. It is God who works in the heart and mind of the hearer. This is where the baby comes in. The Apostles went about preaching, telling what God's love is like. The result of that preaching was the conversion of a large number of people accepting the baptism into the Christian faith. In the earliest Christians baptisms, it was done in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we do it using the Trinitarian formula. Now we come to the hard part; we ask just what is Baptism? To answer that let's go into Luther's small catechism. There his answer is: "Baptism is not merely water, but it is water used according to God's command and connected with God's Word." So there are two parts: water and God's Word. It is God's Word that Paul and Peter have been preaching. In the Lutheran Church, we baptize babies and since they cannot commit themselves yet, we ask the parents and/or sponsors to make sure that they learn about God by seeing that they have instruction in the 10 commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Bible, and how to live as God's child. Then, when the child becomes about 12 or 13 years of age, we ask them the same questions for them to answer for themselves. At that time we call this "confirmation" because they are confirming what their parents or sponsors have promised for them. Remember, baptism is not our act; it is God's act. A child cannot adopt himself to a couple ( to use the adoption analogy), only the couple can adopt a child into their family. In baptism, God comes to each child and makes him/her his own. We make a cross on the forehead signifying that the child belongs to God's family. Baptism connects us with God in a very special and conscious way. It is up to us to maintain that connection throughout our lives. However, since that connection is made, God will not forsake that child; nor will God forsake us. That is the promise in baptism. That is the message from Peter and Paul in all their preaching. That is God's claim on us and for that we say a loud AMEN.
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