I remember when our son, Jeff, began talking with us about his baptism. It began one Sunday in the middle of the hymn of response. He was seated on the front row, an arm-length away. I was trying to be appropriately attentive to the congregation, but Jeff wanted my eye. I assumed he wanted to get a jump on discussing afternoon plans.
Between verses Jeff got vocal using his small voice but big enough for lots of folk to hear. “Dad! Dad!” I prayed for someone to rescue both father and son from the head-on collision that was about to happen. Undeterred, Jeff got straight to the point, “Dad! I’m coming down!” I stepped close enough to tell him we would talk about this at home.
That began a series of discussions “about this big step in life!” One day his readiness for baptism was confirmed when he asked, “Dad, what I want to know are there going to be other steps?” There, of course, would continue to be first one step and then another. This step into the baptismal waters would be determinative for all other steps.
Paul described those who enter these waters as “children of God through faith in Christ!” (Galatians 3:26). It is a time when being “all wet” is all right! Like every drop of water, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” So, we give all that we know of ourselves to all that we know of God.
But what happens when the waters dry? Paul reassures them that their identity is sure. He encourages them not to forget they are called to be different. As we grow in our faith, we are called to take steps of clothing ourselves in Christ (3:27). We put on Christ. Our faith is not just about what we let go of. It is also about what we take hold of. I Peter teaches those who believe to “clothe themselves in humility” (5:5) Perhaps the most difficult step in life.
We put on Christ and that means being built for speed and, at the same time, being ready for the long-haul. Putting on Christ requires steps of balance. The cross reminds us to work each day for balance. The horizontal beam reflects our earthly realm of doing: daily activities like going to work, raising our family, paying the bills. The vertical beam points to the heavenly realm of being: the time and place in our lives when we connect with something that is larger than ourselves and more enduring.
We fall into heresy when we lean too far to one side or to the other. Balance is the best way I know to keep from acting more spiritual than we are. Robert Johnson, in his book, Balancing Heaven and Earth, asserts that heresy is the dislocation of the center of gravity of the personality. The early church wrestled with the heresy of misunderstanding the nature of Christ. Some argued that Christ was more divine than human; that he only appeared to be human. Others held onto the fact that he was only human and not divine. Our faith rests on the paradoxical dynamic that Christ was fully divine and fully human. This offers balance for each step we take in our pilgrimage. We are to stay close to God and stay close to people and to help bring the two closer together.
Saint Teresa of Avila, they say, was often taken with heavenly visions. People were greatly awed by this capacity in Saint Teresa. It was as if she had some direct connection with God. One day someone observed that Saint Teresa never had a vision while cooking and concluded she could not only chat with God, she also never burned dinner. I love the humanness of this story. It demonstrates that even the most deeply spiritual people must still maintain sufficient contact with the earthly world. To err on either side is a sure formula for loneliness because it means that you are separating yourself either from the world or from God. It’s the step of walking the middle way, the “razor’s edge.” It’s the step into the holy place. It is a brave and wise person who understands that he or she belongs right in the middle of a dilemma and that the solution is not to avoid it but to sit in the middle and work through it. I am cautious of the person who constantly insists it is an either/or decision without considering both/and possibilities. I have little patience with people who say they are on the spiritual path by trying to advance the vertical part of their lives at the expense of the horizontal dimension of their being.
Paul challenges the Galatians to put on Christ by taking steps of acceptance of those who belong in the kingdom. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer make and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). We are all one in Christ, and the message is not ours to guard but to share!
Many years ago a friend shared with me this poem which speaks of what the church is to be:
The Church of My Dreams
The church of the warm heart and the open mind,
and the always adventurous spirit.
This is the church of my dreams.
The church that cares, that heals hurt lives
That comforts old people
and challenges the youth with the gospel for their world.
This is the church of my dreams.
The church that knows no division of culture
or class or race, no frontiers, geographical or social,
The church that inquires as well as affirms,
that looks forward as well as backward.
This is the church of my dreams.
The church of the Master,
The church of the people,
The high church, the broad church, the low church;
High as the call of Jesus, low as the humblest human.
This is the church of my dreams.
A working church,
A worshipping church,
A winsome church,
That interprets the truth in light of the Truth.
This is the church of my dreams.
A church that inspires courage for this life
and hopes for the life to come,
A church of all good people,
and a church for people not yet good.
This is the church of my dreams.
The church of the living God,
The church of God’s living people.
As those who follow Christ, let us put ourselves in the way of the big things of which real living consists. Today worldwide poverty is a big thing. So is keeping the world from destroying itself and stopping humanity form ravaging the earth as if there were no tomorrow. Let’s not kid ourselves: the planet is not going to endure our insults forever. Who is there big enough to love the whole world?
So it is, after all, about this big step in life. One of the deepest concerns on the heart of Jesus the night he shared the Lord’s Supper in the Upper Room was the unity of his followers. He said, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” Christ Jesus believed it was important for the disciples to take steps of commitment toward each other as the first steps of affirming their commitment to God. When they loved one another, they would be stepping in the right direction.
Loving one another is our most determinative step!