God in Me

“God in Me”
Galatians 2:15-21

Third Sunday after Pentecost: June 17, 2007
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe

* * *

“It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Paul understands a transformed and renewed life in Jesus Christ in this way. It is no longer Paul who lives the old ways but the risen Christ who lives in and through Paul.

Today is a wonderful day in many ways. It is a day we set aside to come together as a faith community, to pause from busy life, and to reflect together about being followers of Jesus. Today is a day to remember and celebrate fatherhood. Our community is also marking today as the day of baptizing four children – Connor Jacob William Campbell, Hannah Paton Markwart, Jaliyah Justice Michelle Power and Avery Akelah Riley – into Christian community. May our worship and fellowship be a time of remembering and celebrating Christ’s presence in our lives.

A young girl was having a tea party with her dolls when her grandfather gave her a little paper cup. She looked inside it expecting something special. It was full of dirt. “I’m not allowed to play with dirt,” she told her grandfather. He smiled at her and then picked up the little dolls’ teapot. He took her to the kitchen where he filled the teapot with water. Then he put the little cup of dirt on the windowsill and handed her the teapot saying, “If you promise to put some water in the cup every day, something may happen.”

It did not make much sense to a four year old girl. “Put water in the cup?” But her grandfather nodded with encouragement. “Every day, my beloved little one,” the grandfather told her.

And so she promised. At first, curious to see what would happen, she did not mind watering the cup. But as the day went and nothing changed, it got harder and harder to remember to put water in the cup. After a week, she asked her grandfather if it was time to stop yet. Shaking his head no, he said, “Everyday, my beloved little one.” The second week was even harder, and the girl became resentful of her promise to put water in the cup. When her grandfather came again, she tried to give the cup back to him but he refused to take it, saying simply, “Every day, my beloved little one.”

By the third week she began to forget to put water in the cup. Often she would remember only after she had been put to bed and would have to get out of bed and water it in the dark. But she did not miss a single day. And one morning, there were two little green leaves that had not been there the night before.

She was completely astonished. Day by day they got bigger. She could not wait to tell her grandfather, certain that he would be as surprised she was. But of course he was not. Carefully he explained to her that life was everywhere, hidden in the most ordinary and unlikely places. She was delighted. “And all it needs is water, Grandpa?” she asked him. Gently he touched her on the top of her head. “No, my beloved little one,” he said. ”All it needs is your faithfulness.”

Many decades after this enlightenment, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, shares these stories of her grandfather, Rabbi Meyer Ziskind, in the book called “My Grandfather’s Blessing.” Dr. Remen remembers her grandfather as the one who “knew her before she knew herself and loved her enough to last a lifetime.”[i]

Paul understood what it meant to be faithful in Christ Jesus. For Paul, being faithful meant letting Christ live in him – letting God’s beloved little one live within him so he could embrace life in its full extent and possibilities.

What does being faithful mean for us in our daily lives? What faithfulness is required of us as we celebrate Fatherhood? What faithfulness is required of us as we say yes to our commitment to raising children in Christian ways of being?

Baptism is a way of celebrating that life is everywhere, hidden in the most ordinary and unlikely places. Our participation as a faith community in the baptism of children is a pause -- and a way of renewing our commitment that all life is sacred – young and old, those who are near and far, and those whom we consider enemies as well as friends.

But most of all, baptism is an action of faithfulness – transforming the discovery of life everywhere into commitment to nurturing life here in these four young children. Faithful even when we cannot see or know what may happen from our actions. The act of participating in baptism – a sacrament (holy act) for us – is to actively remember to cherish and value life as sacred. Because when we are faithful, something may happen.

According to Kabbalah, the mystical teachings of Judaism, at some point in the beginning of things the Holy was broken up into countless sparks, which were scattered throughout the universe. Kabbalah teaches that there is a god spark in everyone and in everything and that the Holy may speak to you from its many hidden places at any time.

Each baptism speaks to us of the kind of wonder and awe we have about life that is fragile. Each baptism reminds us of a god spark in every one of us. Each baptism is a continuation of the stories of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in God who lives in and through our lives.

May our lives be a blessing to those who encounter us. May our faithfulness be expressed as we raise our children and as we learn to grow and be transformed with them. May we nurture the child within each one of us as we celebrate Fatherhood knowing that God knew us before we knew ourselves and continues to love us enough to last a lifetime.

Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------
[i] Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., My Grandfather’s Blessing: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging, (New York: Riverhead Books, 2000), 1-2.