Lord, You have promised to be with us always; be present now and bring Your Word alive to our minds and hearts, and our minds and hearts alive to Your Word. Amen.
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." This command, recorded at the end of Matthew's Gospel, shows that baptism has always been the mark of Christian belonging. Baptism is the public, physical and visible way in which someone is marked out with the name of the Living God. But what did the early church think you should do once you'd been baptized? What happens next? What are the essentials, which enable people to walk in the light of Christ, not just today, but all the days of our life?
Well, the reading from Acts told us of a day on which about 3000 people were baptized and began their new life in Christ. And it says that these folk "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers". That verse, Acts 2: 42, presents, in short-hand, the 4 essential ingredients - without which, you just cannot bake the Christian cake, as it were. Four things that are indispensable for all who are baptized into the family of Christ's church.
1st the apostles' teaching. This could be likened to our family album or the records that give the family its distinctive identity and knowledge of its origins. The apostles, of course, were the very first followers of Jesus. They heard Him teach; they saw with their own eyes the amazing things He did; they despaired when Jesus was crucified on the Cross and, above all, they were eye-witnesses to the fact that His tomb was empty and that He had risen from death. The apostles were the ones who themselves learnt from Jesus in the flesh and they could therefore pass on to others their first-hand experiences of what it meant to follow Him.
For succeeding generations of Christians, there is nothing that can replace this 'family album' of the apostles' teaching. Studying that teaching is crucial. We all need to be devoted to learning from the apostles' teaching as we receive it from the pages of the New Testament. Where insufficient attention is given to our distinctive 'family album', people's minds are over-influenced by other 'albums' - by whatever is fashionable in the surrounding culture. Then their lives end up being shaped by persuasive social pressures or the habits of their favourite celebrities. Christians should be different; our hearts and minds should be conformed to what we learn of Jesus Christ from biblical teaching.
2nd fellowship. The Greek word used here in Acts is koinonia. It means more than friendship but not less. It's the common life of the Christian family. You know, if I had a fiver from all the folk who've ever told me that you can be a Christian without belonging to a church fellowship, I'd be very rich! But if you'd said that to the writers of the New Testament, they'd have thought you were mad! The notion of 'churchless Christianity' has no place in the early days and throughout most of Christian history and in most parts of the world where the church is growing rapidly today. It's just our individualistic me-centred society that imagines you can be part of the Body of Christ all by yourself. Of course you can't! A body doesn't consist of a single cell, or just one limb or one organ. A family isn't a family if there's only one member.
When a person is baptised they are welcomed into "the fellowship of faith". And their own personal faith will not flourish without that fellowship. Just as Belinda needs her Mum and Dad and wider family members to enable her to grow and develop in mind and body, so she will also need the company of other church members, of all ages, on a regular basis. It's not that we're perfect examples of what Christians should be - are we? We're not always likeable or nice to be with, and Belinda will probably have her off days too!
But "we are children of the same heavenly Father"; and within His perfect love, we welcome and support one another, challenge and care for one another; we laugh together and weep together. Our fellowship is rooted in our local church, and is enriched by our links with other churches, other parts of Christ's family - locally, nationally and globally. Yes, we have our differences and sadly some real divisions; but the closer we come to the Lord of the Church, the deeper our fellowship with others in the Church of the Lord Jesus. We must not dare to 'go it alone' on the journey of faith. We belong within the company of Christ's pilgrim people. Ultimately, our goal is fullness of fellowship as we finally share the inheritance of the saints in glory.
3rd the breaking of bread; our family meal. This is shorthand for the eating and drinking of bread and wine which followers of Jesus have done since the night before His crucifixion - "in remembrance" of Him. There's nothing magic about it; but when people gather, as we do here today, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Mass - doesn't matter what you call it - when you do it, something truly amazing happens. We are proclaiming that Jesus' death and resurrection is the centre of everything. This 'remembrance' is not a wistful looking back to some long-dead hero. No, it's a joining of past, present and future in God's eternal life, which is always NOW. And we're here to be nourished by communion with Christ, who is present right here among us as we do what He has commanded us to do, and take Bread and Wine as His Body and Blood.
Today, little Belinda begins to take her place around her church family table. But when she's at home, she doesn't yet sit on a chair at the dining table and eat exactly what her parents are eating with her own knife and fork. So in the church family, we begin, as scripture puts it, with spiritual 'milk' before we move on to 'solid food' (cf Hebrews 5: 14, 1 Peter 2:2). All being well, in a few years time, Belinda will choose to be Confirmed and repeat for herself the Baptismal promises made on her behalf here today. Then, having thought a bit about its meaning and significance, she too will share fully in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
By the way, this year's Priory preparation for Confirmation will begin early in the Autumn - for anyone between about 10 - 100 yeas old. If you're interested in finding out more about that, do have a word with John or myself.
4th the prayers. Prayer is the communication of Christian family members with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is what brings earth and heaven together. It enables us to be part of God's kingdom, coming on earth as in heaven.
When Lifepath happened here in the Priory a few weeks ago and hundreds of primary school children experienced a Prayer Journey, it was most moving to see how readily they communicated their hopes and fears to God. Among other creative ways of prayer, you can still see down in the North Aisle, the prayers they wrote on leaves for the prayer tree or on the prayer hearts.
Prayer actually comes naturally to human beings because we were created with the need to communicate with God, just as much as we have an inbuilt need for love or for food. But the desire to pray is squeezed out of so many people today by the many distractions and the cynicism of the world around us. If we are to live out our baptismal promises we must help one another in our church family to develop that innate capacity for prayer and devote ourselves to do it - daily. That is, perhaps, the most important duty of godparents - both to pray for their godchild and to encourage her (or him) to join in with the adventure of prayer.
Scriptural teaching is our family album that gives the Christian family its sense of identity and direction. Fellowship is our common life, our regular meeting together which sustains us in all circumstances, whether of sorrow or joy, challenge or comfort, practical care or just being with one another and finding that our Lord also is with us. The breaking of bread above all brings us together in the presence of Christ and is our family meal; and the family that regularly eats together, stays together. The prayers keep the channels of communication wide open between ourselves and God, between earth and heaven. These 4 aspects of church life are essential for all who have joined the worldwide family of the church by baptism.
But there is one other thing, also referred to in that reading from Acts chapter 2 - as it is repeatedly throughout the New Testament where living out the Christian life is described. And that is the gift of the Holy Spirit, whom God has promised to give to enable those who turn to Christ to live as Christians. Without the fresh breath of God's Spirit the apostles' teaching just seems like dry doctrine, and church fellowship degenerates into an inward-looking clique or a grumpy joyless huddle. Without the fire of the Spirit, the breaking of bread becomes a cold ritual and the prayers empty words. Thank God then, that the promised gift of the Spirit is for us and for our children... for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself (Acts 2: 39).
Mary Barr
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