Looking Differently

Tender Mercies was a 1983 movie starring Robert DuVall. DuVall plays Mac Sledge, a has-been country music star whose career has pretty much dried up — and he has turned to alcohol to cope with the disappointments of a lost career, broken marriage, and estranged daughter. He finds himself in a motel run by Rosa Lee, a young widow whose husband was killed in Vietnam. Rose Lee has a young son named Sonny. As you might guess, Sledge and Rosa Lee become friends. Now just in case you haven’t seen the movie and want to, I won’t  share the ending — but I will share one of the powerful scenes in the movie.

Mac and Sonny are baptized by full immersion in the local Baptist church where Rosa Lee sings in the choir. Driving home from church, the three of them talk in the pick-up truck.

Sonny: “Well, we’ve done it, Mac. We’re baptized.”

Mac: “Yeah, we are.”

Sonny: “Everybody said I was going to feel like a changed person. I guess I do feel a little different. But I don’t feel a whole lot different. Do you?”

Mac: “Not yet.”

Sonny: “You don’t look any different.” (Then Sonny sits up to look at himself in the mirror) “Do you think I look any different?”

Mac: “Not yet.”

Do you think I look any different?

I thought a lot about that line. I am quite sure that the writers intended the comment to be about appearance — Mirror, mirror, on the wall, do I look any different? But what if the question for Sonny and for Mac — and for us — is not a question about our appearance but rather about our vision. Do we look any differently? Meaning, has our baptism changed the way we see? Has it changed the way we see ourselves, each other, and the way we see God?

The Book of Common Prayer describes baptism as “the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. The outward and visible sign of Baptism is water and the inward and spiritual grace of Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins and new life in the Holy Spirit.”

Baptism signifies transformation of life, incorporation into the Church, and the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit to direct and inform one’s mission in the world. These are all gifts from God which are freely given and, in baptism, we demonstrate our acceptance of the gifts offered by God. The bond which God establishes with us in baptism is indissoluble. We are marked as Christ’s forever.

But what difference does that make in the here and now? What difference does it make when we encounter those times in life which are difficult? What difference does it make in our relationships? What difference does it make in our reaching out to others?

In our baptismal covenant, we promise to see and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. We promise to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. What does that look like for us on a day to day basis?

On several occasions, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, “God came among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to change the world, to change it from the nightmare it often can be into the dream that God intends. He came to change the world, and we have been baptized into the Triune God and summoned to be disciples and followers of this Jesus and to participate in God’s work, God’s mission of changing and transforming this world.”

Has our baptism changed how we define neighbor? Do we look any differently at the Syrian refugees, at the homeless, at the underprivileged, at immigrants,  at — you fill in the blank.

Does our baptism change how we look  at God?

In telling the story of Jesus’ baptism, the writer of Luke includes an easily overlooked phrase — “When Jesus also had been baptized — and was praying.”  And was praying. Jesus was praying after he was baptized. Throughout the gospel of Luke, we find Jesus praying. Throughout his life and his ministry Jesus was empowered, strengthened, and guided by prayer. Jesus models for us the value of being sustained by the Holy Spirit by a regular practice of prayer. Holding onto to God, who is holding onto us and who has claimed us as children.

One of my favorite quotes from Henri Nouwen speaks to the depth of that love.

Listen to God’s voice that says, “I have called you by name, from the beginning. You are mine and I am yours. You are my Beloved, on my favor rests. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child. Wherever you are, I will be. Nothing will ever separate us. We are one.”

That voice is always there — always speaking, always loving, always reminding us of our belovedness. So often our vision is blurred and out of focus, and instead of seeing signs of the presence and love of God, we see only a world of rejection, judgment and scarcity. How easy it is get trapped in the beliefs of a world judging us, ranking us, evaluating us until they almost drown out the gentle constant voice of God. That voice is always there — if we only will listen.

So, what specks of dust are clouding your vision and burning your eyes? What dust is distorting your vision? What pains and griefs and disappointments are you hanging onto that do nothing but impede your progress? Rub your eyes and risk looking differently — and know that God who is love has called you Holy.

 

Paula Griffin is Curate at St. James Parish. She was ordained as traditional deacon in May 2015. Paula has served as chaplain in a variety of hospital and hospice settings over the past twenty years, providing pastoral care to the patients, families, and staff.