Holy Saturday, 2008
The Rev. Barbara Schlachter

Wow!  Three baptisms—a holy number indeed.  In the middle of the Easter Vigil, which is the best time of all to be baptized, because this is when the ancient church did all of its baptisms.

I don’t think I have ever baptized anyone named Olivia.  I know I have never baptized two Olivias at one time; nor have I ever baptized anyone named Delaney.  What beautiful names.

And even though two of you have the same name, you are not the same person.  You are each unique, as each snow flake, as each leaf, is unique.  God has never made anyone quite like either of you, or Delaney, or any of the rest of us.

We are all unique and special.  And yet, we are also very similar and we are actually all part of the One Body of Christ.  How can someone be a separate person and one with everyone else?  This is called a paradox. 

Paradox is a wonderful word. If I were Mr. Rogers I would ask, “Can we all say “paradox?” If I were a cartoonist, I would have up on our screen the image of two doctors with stethoscopes, a pair a docs.  Well, paradox doesn’t refer to doctors but refers to things that seem unable to be true because they hold contradictions in themselves.  Like, can it be night and day at the same time?    

Or can Jesus be both God and Man?  And can Jesus be dead on Friday and alive on Easter?  And the answer to all these questions is yes, yes, yes.  These are paradoxical truths.

So each you as a separate and unique person is becoming part of the One Body of Christ tonight, becoming one with all the rest of us who have been baptized before you.  You are gaining a whole bunch of brothers and sisters in Christ.  Congratulations and Welcome!

We’ve heard a lot of words already tonight, and we have had a lot of images, like the Hebrew slaves walking through the sea to dry land and to freedom, dry bones being given new life, and God’s people being gathered together and brought home.  But the best words we have heard came in the story of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene and another Mary showing him he was alive. 

We have special words for this on Easter.  The priest says, “Christ is Risen!” and everyone says, “The Lord is Risen Indeed.”  Let’s try that….

We have another special word that we often use with these words.  We don’t use it during Lent so that when we bring it back out during Easter time, we are reminded that it refers to Jesus’ being risen.  Does anyone remember what that word is?

That’s right—Alleluia!

I would like to tell you two stories that describe the power of these words, power beyond Jesus’ time and that first Easter.

The first is the story of a Bishop in the fifth century who was from France.  He went to Britain to help the people there defend themselves from some people who were not Christians at that time.  He was able to turn back a whole army by gathering a group of people who were Christians to stand before the advancing enemy and chant alleluias until the poor Picts and Saxons just turned and left, in confusion.  No blood was shed.  That’s a real “Hallelujah Chorus!” 

That’s a powerful word, that Alleluia!

The other story is from Russia, from the early twentieth century.  One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle, who wrote AWrinkle in Time and other wonderful books I hope you will all read someday, tells it this way:

It happened shortly after the Russian Revolution and the establishment of an atheist government.  That is a government that does not believe in God and will punish other people who do believe in God. 

“The people of Moscow were called to a gathering in Red Square.  There they were addressed by one of the new leaders, who spent well over half an hour proving to the populace that there is no God.  His factual arguments about the nonexistence of God were incontrovertible, and the mob of people standing in Red Square was silent and subdued.

Then a priest who was standing with the people asked permission to say three words. Permission was granted, and he stood in front of the packed square, raised his arms, and cried out:

                                    CHRIST IS RISEN!

And the entire mob responded joyfully, “He is risen indeed.”

They knew the truth, and no one was going to make them believe differently.

Here is one final word for us tonight: it is water.  Today is actually World Water Day, a day so declared by the United Nations in recognition that water is one of our most important physical needs.  Many people in our world have to walk miles to get clean water to drink, and their crops die because they do not have enough rain.

We are used to water coming out of the tap every time we turn the faucet, and we know that it is clean and we can drink it safely.  This is truly a blessing and we should never take it for granted.

Tonight, though we are not drinking water.  We are blessing water for baptism.  We have heard how water saved the Hebrew slaves and we will soon be reminded that the way people become part of the One Body of Christ is through water.  Olivia, Delaney, and Olivia will all have water splashed on their heads so that they can become part of the One Body of Christ.  Being splashed, immersed, sprinkled, dunked, whatever—the only way we become part of the Body of Christ is through water.

Water is precious, just as each of these girls is precious.  Let us not forget the symbolic or the actual importance of water.

So, let’s review our words:

Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!  The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia!

Now, onto the water of baptism.