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The Bishop's Journal
March 1999
A FAITHFUL ACT OF PRETENSE
I recently had the pleasure of worshipping with one of the congregations of synod as they celebrated an anniversary. The service was beautiful; the banquet which followed was superb! But the strongest memory I will carry with me from that day is a deep appreciation for the graciousness with which the congregation went about doing the Sunday morning business of the people of God.
I watched as the pastor warmly welcomed worshippers as they arrived for church that morning. Greeters and ushers were sensitive and attendant to the needs of visitors. The back pews of the nave were considerately left vacant for those who might arrive late. Choir members sang with gusto and enthusiasm, their faces mirroring the praise-filled music they were singing. The assisting minister led the kyrie with a demeanor that radiated love and hospitality in a way which transcended mere words. Members shared the peace of Christ with genuine warmth and sincerity of spirit. It was beautiful!
One of the essential tasks of a family unit is that of giving its members a sense of identity, a sense of who they are. The family gives us place, a sense of self, a sense of who we are in the grand scheme of things. Similarly, one of the essential tasks of our family the church is to tell us who we are; to nurture and sustain the baptized in their God-given identity. To remind us that through the grace of God we are light and salt people who truly can live a new life.
Hopefully, that is what we are doing and saying through our words and ritual action each Sunday morning. "Rise and go, your sins are forgiven." "The peace of the Lord be with you always." "The body of Christ given for you; the blood of Christ shed for you." "Go in peace, serve the Lord." We're affirming and building up that which Christ says we are. We're practising, concretely, precisely those virtues which have been identified as being signs of the kingdom of God.
Certainly, there's an element of playacting to all that. After all, there are days when I don't feel much like being a light to anyone, much less the whole world. There are days when my salt has lost much, if not all, of its taste! But just as there is a false or deceitful form of playacting where we have no intention of becoming what we pretend to be, so also is there a very good and very holy kind of playacting where our faithful acts of pretense can lead us to the real thing.
A story is told of a man whose face had been disfigured and made ugly, so much so that he felt obliged to wear a mask over his face, day in and day out over the course of many years. Finally one day, the mask was removed and much to the man's surprise, his features had now conformed to that of the mask. What had begun as a pretense had become a reality.
It's in much this same way that Christians live out the power of their baptisms. Think of your baptism, if you will, as a garment - maybe as a comfortable thick sweater. Only it's like the clothes your parents would buy for you when you were a kid: always just a few sizes too big so you had some room to grow into them! You remember - sleeves down to your knees!
That's what baptism is like. As a matter of fact Paul once wrote about baptism as a "putting on of Christ", just like a sweater! But again, we get a garment that we're always growing into, that we're always in the process of filling out. It's comfortable and warm, but always just a few sizes too big; always giving us just a little more room to grow. We're always growing into it; always in the process of reclaiming its promises and benefits.
Each time we gather for worship we are given the opportunity to paint a picture of the gospel, to enact a living parable that portrays something of what the kingdom of God is all about. Conversely, Sunday morning also bears the potential of providing pictures and parables that are more descriptive of quite a different sort of kingdom, if you catch my meaning! The responsibility is a collective one. All of us participate in the painting of that picture. Each of us is called to play a role in the living out of that parable.
In a few weeks it will be Holy Week and our worshipping communities will swell to include a great many people who are not with us all that often through a given calendar year. Will those people be helped to grow a little more into the fullness of baptism? What pictures will they see painted? What parables will they see enacted? Will they experience a lifegiving sign of the kingdom of God, or sadly, a life-denying sign of something else? The answer is ours to provide.
The Rev. Michael J. Pryse,
Bishop
