Ruminations on Advent 2

Ruminations
I've been most remiss in posting over the past year. Resolutions aside, I thought I'd try something new. I've been preparing sermons each week for over eight years now. Every week seems like it's a new text; I seem to find something different than the last time. So, I'm going to briefly share some of the ideas that have occurred as I've studied each week's texts. This is a new one for me.

Year C, Advent 2 RCL
Baruch 5:1-9
Canticle 16
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6

Thematically, it feels like preparation for John the Baptist (JTB) Sunday next week, but we get two weeks of JTB.

We get two looks at the restoration of Jerusalem this week: Baruch and Second Isaiah. Both come from the time of the Babylonian Exile. Baruch, the scribe/companion of Jeremiah has remained in Jerusalem and lived in the destruction. Now, Baruch speaks to Jerusalem, telling her to look to the east (toward Babylon) to see the returning exiles, reminding her of her special position with God. The Isaiah passage (Isa 40:3-5) is quoted in the gospel. This is the core of the tenor aria in Messiah, "Every mountain...". Looking back at Isaiah itself, there is an analogue of the Baruch passage, speaking to Jerusalem, that precedes the quotation in Luke. The section Luke quotes is clearly addressed to the exiles. What's really interesting is the parallelism. Both Baruch and Isaiah see the way between Babylon and Jerusalem being made an easy passage. Isaiah's "salvation of God" is about the restoration of Jerusalem; as Christians we read this as what Jesus brings. Need to be clear about that.

Canticle 16, the Song of Zechariah, feeds us more of the JTB story. It is also a bit of a bridge between the Baruch/Isaiah salvation concept and the Jesus as salvation concept. JTB is the way maker and, coupled with remembering MK's and MT's "eating locusts and wild honey", he even looks the part of Elijah. Elijah is supposed to return before the coming of the Anointed One, so we get set up for that being Jesus. Notice the forgiveness of sins as prerequisite for salvation.

Paul's letter to the church at Philippi is for the Gentile congregation he founded in what will be Europe. Philippi was in Macedonia, established by Philip II around 350 and existing into the Ottoman Empire. It is a classic Paul thanksgiving, I think, and sets expectations for what will come in the balance of the letter. Blamelessness, purity, and righteousness are common themes with Paul, and this letter doesn't disappoint.

I've already plumbed a little of Luke, but let's look further. The beginning of the passage sets up who the hierarchy is, along with a little history. It is also JTB's call to ministry. Also note the characterization of "the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas". Annas is the father of Caiaphas who was high priest until 15CE; he was deposed by Rome. Caiaphas succeeded his father and some suggest that Annas was really the one in charge. Luke is very careful to characterize JTB's baptism: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." We've traditionally held baptism to be a one-time event (excepting the Baptist strain of Christianity). We even have "conditional baptism" in our rites to cover the possibility of a re-baptism. That's very different from the ritual washing/bathing of Judaism. "Mikvah" were pools of water, fed by some natural source, used for ritual immersion. Both men and women, for all sorts of reasons. In Hebrew, the word broadly means a collection of water. Immersion in the mikvah would render the person 'ritually pure'.  I think the meaning of 'salvation of our God' is intended to mean what Jesus brings to the world in the present (1st CE) and continues to bring to the world in our time. Just guessing, but I would think that the Isaiah quote would be pretty familiar to 1st century Jews and probably heard as speaking about the restoration of Jerusalem and the Jewish state. More interesting to me is the location being the Jordan river. It's probably an hour's drive from Jerusalem. That points to it being significant for some other reason. Looking back, the Jordan is the boundary of the wilderness and the promised land. It is also the place that Naaman is told to dip himself to rid him of his leprosy (probably actually Hansen's Disease). I can't think that it is coincidental.  Is this perhaps a place of rebirth, a place of starting over? Crossing the Jordan, passing from the wilderness to the promised land certainly evokes memories of crossing the reed sea. In Joshua's telling, it even dried up like the reed sea. I think all of this is somewhat of a 'setting the stage' for the redefinition of Passover that is coming with Jesus' passion/death/resurrection/ascension.  Maybe the baptism of John is something liminal, marking a beginning point, or an announcement. It does set up Jesus' baptism and the beginning of his ministry, but we have a few weeks to go before we get that story.

When a baptism isn't just a baptism

I frequently get requests from people concerning ancestors who might have been a part of this parish. Sometime before my arrival, a database of the Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, and Burial registers was created. The database is not complete and does have some errors in it, but it certainly provides a shortcut for most of my research.

I do enjoy these forays into history. With complete records from the founding of the parish in 1853, there are some real gems of information recorded by my predecessors. It seems like they didn't see the register as simply a log of sacramental acts, but as a part of the history of the parish. It also speaks to their understanding of the breadth of Jesus' "Come unto me" call. For example, there are marriages, baptisms, confirmations, and burials that have only a first name and notes like "Servant of Mr. X", or "Colored" added to the entry. These begin almost simultaneously with the founding of the parish.

It is also heartbreaking to pass through the Baptism and Burial registers during the time of the many Yellow Fever epidemics that passed through Mobile. Four months after the arrival of one of my predecessors, twins boys were born to the couple. One was stillborn, the other lived for two days. Five months later the rector and his wife became sick with Yellow Fever. He survived but his wife did not. He was apparently too sick to officiate at her burial. Unsurprisingly, he didn't remain with the parish for very long. Ministry can be really hard; this time, life was harder.

I was looking at the database recently for a family who were cousins of a former rector. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I got the original register out of the vault and began a chronological search. Looking for a baptism entry for two children, I started in the year 1859, the year the oldest was born. I continued reviewing the register until after the youngest child's 10th birthday. Seemed like a reasonable time range, but I didn't find what I was looking for.

During my pass through the Baptism register for the period 1859-1872, I stumbled on a long series of "Private, Sick" baptisms from August through November of 1864. Many of the entries were made by the rector, but almost as many by another cleric. These latter entries came from places all over the southern part of Alabama and also include entries noted "servants" and "colored". There's no Yellow Fever epidemic recorded for 1864, but that was still during the "war", so perhaps it was something else.

It was in this time interval that I stumbled upon a entry that took my breath away. One line, as follows:
    19 Aug. 1864 - Dick (colored) - Adult - Day of his execution

There are many entries in the register with the notation "In Extremis". We baptize babies that aren't expected to survive under that rubric. Adults at baptism are completely different because they are making a confession of faith and turning away from their former selves to become a new creation in Christ. Of course the benefit is forgiveness of sins. Legend has it that Constantine I was baptized on his death bed, so he wouldn't have any opportunity to commit (another) sin before he died.

Looking back at our rite, and considering this particular baptism, the renunciations and adhesions, the baptismal covenant, the water, and the invocation of the Trinity imparting forgiveness for anything past and the creation of a new being in Christ seem so much more powerful than a sacramental confession or extreme unction. If this isn't an example of Jesus' arms wide, beckoning us to him, I don't know what is.