Joining the Family

Perhaps you have seen the widely distributed internet blurb that begins like this: “We are all familiar with a herd of cows, a flock of chickens, a school of fish and a gaggle of geese. However, less widely known is a pride of lions, a murder of crows . . . an exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a parliament of owls.

“Now consider a group of baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not  . . . a Congress! I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington!” the writer concludes.

Clever, isn’t it? The only problem is that it isn’t true. I hate to spoil a good source of humor (particularly at Congress’ expense), but it just isn’t so. According to PolitiFact, the Pulitzer-winning fact-checking service, even though the rest of the information in the e-mail is correct, somebody just made up the idea that a group of baboons is called a congress. Actually the proper term is a troop of baboons. So baboons of the world relax. No one can properly defame you by calling you a Congress.

I guess that is a good lesson in accepting everything as gospel that people send you via e-mail . . . or Facebook or wherever you get your information.

But it’s neat to think that a group of doves is called “an exaltation.” Exaltation is not a word we use very often anymore, except in referring to God, as in Psalm 34:3, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (KJV). Or in Philippians 2 referring to Christ: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (9-11).

And guess what appeared at Jesus’ baptism? Luke tells us in today’s Gospel: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

What a magnificent scene. In one compact event, Christ’s baptism, the three persons of the Trinity come together – the Son being baptized, the Father expressing his approval of His Son and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove. How much closer to exaltation can we come than the concurrent presence of the Trinity? And a small dove was very much a part of it. So why should we not call a group of doves an exaltation? It’s a good reminder of what happened on the day Christ was baptized.

This scene ought to also remind us how important every baptism is. I worry that sometimes we view baptism as just another ceremony, just another ritual that we go through in the life of the church. But Baptism matters.

For one thing it says something about the person being baptized. The person being baptized now belongs to God. We hear people say defiantly, “I’ll do what I want. It’s my life.” Not so with a person who has been baptized. You now belong to God.

Baptism also matters because of what it says about the church.  Christian baptism is a sacrament of the church. When you are baptized, you are baptized into a family. That family is the Christian family. There are far too many people who are under the delusion that they can live a Christian life apart from the church. You may live a moral life, you may live a constructive and happy life, but the Christian life can only be properly lived as part of the body of Christ.  Only within the body of Christ will our commitment to Christ be complete.

Stephen Montgomery tells about a young woman he once knew who was looking for a church in which to get married. She nearly drove her fiancé and her mother crazy, scouting out just about every church in the city, looking for just the right one – the one with the prettiest stained glass windows, the one with just the right length of the center aisle, the one most accessible to their reception venue.

Finally, she made a decision. She ended up getting married in an old, cinder block, rectangular building with fluorescent lights, and an electronic organ. A few homemade felt banners that the youth group had made in the ’60s and ’70s were still up on the walls.

Why the change? She finally realized something very important. She realized that this was the church where she had been baptized, where she had gone through confirmation class, where her grandparents’ memorial services had been held. This was where she had come to know something of the love and grace of God, and she finally realized that, yes, the building was important, it was a sacred center, but its importance was in being a means to an end and not an end in itself.

We sometimes get irked by people who simply use the church to be hatched, matched, and dispatched. That is to say, to be baptized, married and then buried. The other side of that is that the church envelopes all the important events of our life. It should be central to our life.

Baptism is our initiation into a special group, the church of Jesus Christ. We may baptize in different ways, but all churches are united in this one way: baptism is a requirement of acceptance into the body of Christ. Baptism is important because of what it says about the person being baptized and what it says about the church.

Even more important is what it says about the grace of God. God’s grace is available to all. We are not baptized because we are perfect. None of us is perfect. Baptism is a sacrament because it is an outward, visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace instituted by Christ himself.

A lady tells about a baptism service that took place in her church. It was after a series of evangelistic services at their church. One hundred and two people were scheduled to be baptized. The men wore black robes; the women wore white robes.

During the baptism the dye from the black robes began to make the water look dirty, and she heard two little boys sitting behind her discussing the matter.

“How come the water is getting so dirty?” the first boy asked.

The second lad replied, “That’s their sins being washed away.” Well, he may be right.

Sam Houston was the first president of the Republic of Texas. It’s said he was a rather nasty fellow with a checkered past. Later in life he made a commitment to Christ and was baptized in a river. The preacher said, “Sam, your sins are washed away.”

Sam Houston replied, “God help the fish.”

But you see, God accepts us as we are. Baptism is important because of what it says about the person being baptized and what it says about the church. But most important is what it says about the grace of God.

If you haven’t been baptized, consider joining the family.