I'll admit there is a note of irony. Tomorrow in worship we will be celebrating new life on this weekend set aside to honor the dead. It is yet another common, if not altogether comfortable, cohabitation of the calendar by church and state. Throughout the weekend and culminating on Monday, our public life is consumed with Memorial Day, a day technically set aside to honor our nation's war dead -- initially proclaimed in 1868 to remember casualties of the Civil War and later broadened after World War 1 to honor Americans who died fighting in any war -- but long since more popularly expanded to remember all those loved ones who have died. Originally known as "Decoration Day," the occasion now finds decorated not only the graves of soldiers, but of husbands and wives and children and grandparents who died at the hands of disease or accident or old age or disaster, as well. Our public life has found in this weekend an occasion to remember all those for whom we have grieved, regardless of their transport into death.
But as it does every so often, the national observance of Memorial Day coincides with the church's observance of Pentecost, that day in the Christian story 50 days after Easter marked by the movement of the Holy Spirit in a way so dramatic that the storyteller could ultimately rely only on metaphor to capture it, because mere description proved inadequate --
And so in our particular congregation we have come to use the day to baptize young people who have been studying and praying and watching and learning about what it means to be a Christian. Tomorrow in worship -- Pentecost Sunday -- the baptistry will be filled not only with water and one after another newly-professed disciples, but also the stirrings of the Spirit and the beginnings of new life. Just to add to the celebration, we will also celebrate the birth of a new baby in a service of the "Blessing of Children," giving thanks for new life in a more literal sense.
And so the odd and circumstantial juxtaposition of death and birth -- baptism, blessing, and Memorial Day; reverently remembering, and joyfully celebrating. And in both places -- sanctuary and cemetery -- giving thanks for the precious and marvelous gift of life.
But as it does every so often, the national observance of Memorial Day coincides with the church's observance of Pentecost, that day in the Christian story 50 days after Easter marked by the movement of the Holy Spirit in a way so dramatic that the storyteller could ultimately rely only on metaphor to capture it, because mere description proved inadequate --
"And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind.... Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..."The episode proved to be so powerful, so transforming that, according to the story, 3000 people were baptized that day. We look back on the day as the "birthday of the church," when the disciples came into their own as the "Body of Christ." Whatever took place, a fairly flimsy fold of followers became a bold company of advocates. It was the beginning of a new kind of life as they took on the vitality of the one whose spirit -- and mantle -- they assumed.
And so in our particular congregation we have come to use the day to baptize young people who have been studying and praying and watching and learning about what it means to be a Christian. Tomorrow in worship -- Pentecost Sunday -- the baptistry will be filled not only with water and one after another newly-professed disciples, but also the stirrings of the Spirit and the beginnings of new life. Just to add to the celebration, we will also celebrate the birth of a new baby in a service of the "Blessing of Children," giving thanks for new life in a more literal sense.
And so the odd and circumstantial juxtaposition of death and birth -- baptism, blessing, and Memorial Day; reverently remembering, and joyfully celebrating. And in both places -- sanctuary and cemetery -- giving thanks for the precious and marvelous gift of life.
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1 comment:
Your blog reminds me of the transitions church and society has made since my earlier years in ministry. I was able to have baptisms when they were the only emphasis of the Sunday - baby blessings were often on Mother's Day - Memorial Week Ends were for special military services and later a time for remembering the death of various congregational and family members.
I have never been one for putting live or artificial flowers on graves for the cemetary caretaker to clean up after Memorial Day. I find other ways to remember the departed and prefer giving flowers to celebrate God's gifts of first birth and new birth.
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