7th Sunday after Pentecost
Last Sunday, as I was on my way to the service at Zion Church in Baltimore, I was listening to the radio. I usually am on the road in time to catch the last half of a program called “Hidden Brain”, a show which, as they put it on their website, “explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.” It’s almost always an interesting program, but last Sunday’s program was particularly interesting because it was a discussion about spirituality with Dr. Lisa Miller, a psychologist who teaches at the Teachers College at Columbia University. Her groundbreaking research has shown that spirituality is actually a capacity that every human being is born with.
Working to develop our sense of spirituality not only leads to a greater sense of satisfaction and well-being, but it also has a positive effect in deterring physical illness. But the most striking statistic she cited was the following, which is a direct quote from the interview: “The number one cause of death right now to rival auto accidents is suicide in Gen Z in high school and college. A strong personal life when shared in [a faith fellowship] amongst friends or family is 82% protective against completed suicides. 4 [out of] 5 [are] less likely to take [their] life.
Now, this is all amazing, right? But there is a bit of a catch. There always is, right? Over the years psychology has discovered that our various capacities have innate and environmental components. In other words, it’s not so much nature vs. nurture, as it is nature plus nurture that makes us who we are. Spirituality is only 1/3 innate. The other 2/3’s? Environmental. In other words, it doesn’t just happen all by itself. 2/3’s environmentally formed means that yes, we are all naturally spiritual beings. But we have the opportunity of our lifetime to cultivate our spiritual awareness. When we do, it literally physically alters and strengthens the regions of the brain that have to do with spirituality.
Having heard all of this and then seeing what the lessons were for today, it gave me a totally different perspective on Jesus’ parable of the sower. The way Jesus tells it and the interpretation he adds to it, it’s very tempting to say that it’s a one and done kind of thing. Somebody is either the hard packed soil, the rocky soil, the bramble plagues soil, or the good soil. And that’s it. But what Dr. Miller’s research reveals to us is that we can proactively affect what type of soil we are. In fact, we have the power to influence the type of soil we are by engaging in the kinds of activities that strengthen the spiritual part of our brains. Even more to the point, on this day when we are celebrating the baptisms of three young people, we have the opportunity and the profound responsibility, to see to it that Andi, Colt, and Mack cultivate within themselves the best soil possible.
Part of that is the promise the parents make during the celebration of baptism: They promise to walk in the way of Christ and teach that way to one another. They promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciples, to follow in the way of Jesus, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ. And they promise your love, support, and care to Colt, Mack, and Andi as they live and grow in Christ.
These promises are about more than just coming to church and Sunday school. It’s about how we live our lives. It’s about how we teach Mack, Andi, and Colt about how to live their lives. These promises are not being made in a vacuum, either. They’re being made here, in this place, in the company of this amazing congregation, filled with loving and compassionate people who are more than willing to help you along the way. Today’s baptisms are about giving our kids, our grandkids, our nieces, our nephews and ourselves the tools they need, that we all need, to flourish and to be resilient.
Remember that earlier statistic: A strong personal life when shared in [a faith fellowship] amongst friends or family is 82% protective against completed suicides. I’ve been very open in talking about my dealings with severe depression and suicidal ideation earlier in my life, and I can tell you from experience that that statistic holds into adulthood, as well. When I was at my lowest, it wasn’t me that kept me alive. It was my spirituality. It was that small spark of light that kept the darkness from consuming me entirely It was that sense of divine presence, that preserved me.
The temptation is to look at all of this like its spiritual self-help. You know, “If I just put in enough work than I can make myself feel connected to God and the world around me and I’m the best soil around.” We need to remember that faith itself, is a gift from God. Spirituality itself is a gift from God. As Paul makes clear in the reading from Romans, the Spirit is already dwelling within us, working to prepare the soil. “9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. …10 But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
It’s not about creating better soil for ourselves but cultivating the soil that has already been created within us. We don't make ourselves into good soil. The Spirit is already breaking up the hard ground, pulling out the rocks, cutting back the brambles. Our spiritual practices are how we cooperate with what God has already begun.
I’m not trying to be pollyannaish about what it means to intentionally foster a deeper relationship with God. It doesn’t mean that life is not still without its difficulties and challenges. It would be disingenuous at best for me to stand up here and say something like that, if not downright dumb. Even when you have a strong spiritual life, waiting on God can be especially difficult when life gets painful and messy. And sometimes words meant to offer comfort and affirm God’s presence are hard to hear and receive when we are caught in the throes of our own personal tsunamis. And yet, the prophetic voice in Isaiah 55 does just that—brings a word of comfort that rings out as good news—good news to the exiled people of Israel, forced from their own country by occupiers, who may have been questioning whether their God was still with them.
This word of comfort begins with an unusual invitation to dine. At the beginning of chapter 55, before our reading for today, the prophet writes, “Come, you that have no money, buy and eat” (Isaiah 55:1). Come, you whose priorities and values are misplaced. “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?” (55:2a). God issues a universal invitation: Come … no banquet ticket required; your participation is not determined by your economic status; all are welcome to join in the feast of the Lord. The God of Isaiah promises Israel that salvation is theirs if they want it.
While the parents have made promises today before God and all of you, God is likewise making a promise.
That God will be with us and especially today with Andi, Mack, and Colt, regardless of circumstances. What Isaiah tells us, indeed that to which all of the Bible witnesses is that God is a promise keeper. God is faithful and true. When God says, “My word shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11), God has a whole universe that validates the truth of that claim. Just as God watered the earth and made it fruitful, God’s word will bear fruit among these people.
In other words, God does not speak empty, hollow, or vain words, but words filled with purpose—words of life, words that engender hope and the promise of a secure future (Jeremiah 29:11). These are not promises of a life free from struggle, but of a life where God’s presence ensures victory even in the midst of struggle.
And so after years of exile and captivity, King Cyrus’s decree that the people should return to their home opened the way for their return. God had fulfilled the divine promise. Just as the exiles in Babylon discovered God’s faithfulness, we can trust in God’s word, God’s presence, and this, God’s community, as a beacon of hope during difficult times. God’s promise to be with us is fulfilled in the incarnation of God’s Son, Jesus Christ—an enduring witness that God’s word does not return empty. As the Gospel of John declares: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:1–4) And today that same word, combined with the water of baptism, and the promise that God makes through baptism, empowered by the Holy Spirit, bring Mack, Colt, and Andi along on the next step of their spiritual journey. The same spirit that works to prepare the soil within us is the same spirit poured out in the waters of baptism into the lives of these young people.
To quote from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism: “What is baptism? Baptism is not simply plain water. Instead, it is water used according to God’s command and connected with God’s word.” “What gifts or benefits does baptism grant? It brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the words and promise of God declare.” “How can water do such great things? Clearly the water does not do it, but the word of God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3, “through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This is most certainly true.”
AMEN