Seeing is not always believing.

I have some news on the athletic front (have I mentioned I'm doing a tri in less than 2 weeks?), but before I get into that, here is a very belated post on a recent family event: my niece's baptism.

Olivia didn't like this part much, but her sister found it hilarious!

My niece Olivia was baptized on Sunday, 4/22/12, and I had the great honor of preaching at the service. As an added bonus, the baptism took place on my first Sunday back at church following my engagement and my fiance was scheduled to read the Scripture that day. All of this added up to an overwhelming church and family love-fest. Andrew and I are very lucky.

Here's my sermon from that day:

Luke 24: 36b-48

36While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate in their presence. 44Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.”

Seeing is Not Always Believing:
Luke 24: 36b-48

Today is a very special day for my family. Today, we celebrate the baptism of my 3-month old niece, Olivia. Between my two siblings, I have 5 nieces and nephews. Olivia is the youngest, and the oldest is 23, which means I’ve been an aunt since I was 9. From the day my oldest nephew was born, my nieces and nephews have been the most important people in my life. A few weeks ago, I got interviewed by a psychologist as part of my ordination process. One of the questions she asked was “If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?” Can you guess my first wish? It wasn’t for world peace or to win the lottery. It was for all of my nieces and nephews to have happy, healthy lives. In fact, if I could have that wish, I’d be willing to skip the other two!

On January 19th, my sister-in-law Stephanie went to the hospital to deliver Olivia. I went to work and waited all morning for the phone to ring. Finally, just after lunch, my Mom called and said that Olivia had arrived. A few hours later, I got a message from my brother with Olivia’s first pictures. The phone call made me excited, and the pictures made me weepy. But nothing compared to the next day, when I met her in person.

On January 20th, I went to the hospital as early as I could. I found Steph’s room, went inside, and there she was: my new niece, asleep in her mother’s arms. I was supposed to work that day, but I couldn’t pull myself away. I spent almost all day with Olivia: holding her, watching her, and taking pictures. I got to be there when Olivia’s big sister, 4 year-old Greta, met her for the first time. One of my favorite pictures from that day is this one, where Greta gets her first chance to hold Olivia:

I also love this one, where my brother is showing Greta Olivia’s tiny fingers and toes:

I thought about this picture when I read this morning’s Gospel text. Judging from this story, fingers and toes are important to Jesus too. After the resurrection, the disciples are gathered together, talking about the rumor that Jesus rose from the dead. They’ve heard the news, but they don’t quite believe it. And can you blame them? If I were there, I think I’d be skeptical too.

Then, Jesus actually appears right in the room with them. Now, they can see him, but they still don’t quite believe. Maybe this appearance is a hallucination. They’ve just been through 3 awful days. They’re tired and upset, and they want Jesus to come back. Maybe they’re just seeing what they want to see. Or maybe this Jesus is a ghost. That’s a scary idea. Remember what Pastor Dave said in his Easter sermon? He’s back? Think about Peter, who promised to stay with Jesus to the end and then denied him three times. Peter has a lot to fear from Jesus’s ghost, and I bet some of the other disciples are worried too.

Finally, Jesus invites the disciples to actually touch him. He says “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see.” He lets the disciples touch him and feel that he’s real. He even eats with them, just to prove once and for all that he isn’t a ghost. Once the disciples touch Jesus and experience his real, physical presence, they finally believe. They know that Jesus really was dead and he really is alive again. Hearing the news about Jesus is good, and seeing it is even better, but the disciples have to touch it before they truly believe.

I’m reminded of the disciples’ experience when I think about my niece, Greta. For 9 months, Greta heard that she was going to have a little sister. Everyone in the family talked about it, she read books about it, and she watched her parents put together a room for the baby. On the night her sister was born, Greta saw pictures of her. But the fact of her little sister’s birth didn’t become real until Greta came to the hospital and touched those little hands and feet for herself. I’ll never forget the sight of Greta standing over Olivia’s hospital crib, staring at her in awe.

I asked her “Who is that?” and she beamed with pride: “That’s my little sister, Olivia Josephine Brooks!”

Watching Greta meet Olivia reminded me of another family memory. My oldest nephew, Jordan, was 5 years old when his little sister, Summer, was born. Like Greta, Jordan spent 9 months hearing that he was going to be a big brother and he was excited. On the day my sister went to the hospital to deliver Summer, Jordan stayed at our grandmother’s house. As soon as Summer was born, my brother-in-law called and gave Jordan the news. When he got off the phone, Grandma said “You have a little sister! And tomorrow, you’ll go to the hospital and meet her!” I’m sure Grandma expected this to make Jordan happy. Instead, he started crying: “Tomorrow? But I want to meet my little sister now!”

For both Greta and Jordan, hearing about their little sisters was good, and seeing them was even better, but nothing compared to actually touching them and being with them. For 9 months, they both knew their roles in the family were going to change. They had ideas about what it would mean to have a little sister. But it wasn’t until they actually met their little sisters that they really understood. The day he met Summer, Jordan really became a big brother. The day she met Olivia, Greta became a big sister.

When I think about today’s Gospel text in light of my niece and nephew, I realize there’s something even deeper than belief happening in this story. When the disciples touch Jesus, they truly believe that he rose from the dead. But the story doesn’t end there. Something else happens too. Jesus talks to them. He says “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” He reminds them of things he told them before, but this time they hear differently. Being in the presence of the risen Jesus opens the disciples’ minds. Before they just heard Jesus’s words; now they understand. They understand what Jesus’s life and death mean and how they relate to the Scriptures. They also understand that they have a job to do. Jesus tells them that “repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” These men have been following Jesus all this time, but only in this moment do they truly become disciples. My niece and nephew had to be in the presence of their little sisters to understand what it means to be an older sibling. The disciples had to be in the presence of the risen Jesus to understand what it means to be a disciple. Just hearing and seeing weren’t enough.

A little over 4 years ago, I had the privilege of preaching on the day Greta was baptized. The lectionary text for that day felt perfect for a sermon about baptism, and I couldn’t believe my luck. When I learned I would be preaching the day of Olivia’s baptism, I was sure my luck would run out. I Googled the lectionary readings and barely had the heart to look at them. When I finally saw this text, I couldn’t believe it. The lectionary came through for me again! What could be better for a sermon about baptism than a story about how we need to touch things in order to believe?

Really, I think that the need to touch is the reason we have sacraments. I think it’s the reason we come here every week. We can hear the word of God anytime we want by reading the Bible. We can see our beliefs in action by watching religious TV shows or movies, or by visiting Christian web sites. But nothing compares to actually coming to this place, holding the hymnals, hugging our friends and neighbors, and tasting the bread and wine.

Sacraments, such as baptism, take us beyond hearing and seeing and actually let us touch and experience our beliefs. As United Methodists, we believe that God longs to be in relationship with each and every human person. We also believe that God takes initiative to reach out to us- we call that “prevenient grace.” Prevenient grace is one of the reasons we baptize babies. Long before a baby is old enough to know who God is, we believe that God is reaching out to that baby, claiming him or her as a child of God forever. The sacrament of baptism doesn’t cause God to reach out to us; it recognizes and responds to the fact that God has already reached out.

Of course, if God has already claimed every human person as his own, you might wonder why we even need baptism. What are we really doing when we baptize someone? Our church doctrine says that we’re responding to God’s gift of grace- and I agree with that- but I think there’s something else happening too. I think we baptize because we need to touch God’s grace in order to believe.

We can read in the Scriptures that Olivia has already been claimed as a beloved child of God. But its so much more real when we place our hands on her head and Pastor Dave says “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” As members of this church family, we can express our congratulations to parents on the birth of a baby, or send cards, or like their pictures on Facebook. But that doesn’t compare to being here together, speaking the vows of baptism, pledging our support to that child and that family.

Baptism helps us move beyond seeing and hearing to touching, so that we can truly believe. I might wish that all of my nieces and nephews will have happy and healthy lives. I might wish that they’ll never get sick, or have their hearts broken, or experience loss. But I’ve been at this aunt thing for 23 years now, and I know that wishing can only do so much. My nieces and nephews will be sick sometimes. They will have their hearts broken. They will face losses. I can’t control what will happen to Olivia in her life, but I can remember what I experience(d) today. By participating in Olivia’s baptism, I can truly believe that she will always be a child of God, loved unconditionally. I can know that she has a church community to support her, whatever happens. I can accept that she and I are bound together forever by our shared experience of baptism.

But, of course, it doesn’t end there. Belief wasn’t the end of the story for the disciples, and its not the end of the story of baptism. When they touched the risen Christ, the disciples had their hearts and minds opened. They understood for the first time what it means to follow Jesus, and they understood that they had jobs to do. They were called to go out into the world and give other people the same experience. They knew they needed to help people touch the risen Christ for themselves.

We are called to do the same. Every time we participate in a baptism, we are called to remember our own baptisms. We’re called to remember how God actually reached out and touched us through the hands of our pastors, parents, family, and friends. We’re called to really experience that grace again. And then we’re called to reach out and touch others. That might mean something as dramatic as traveling to serve people in need on a VIM trip. Or it might mean something as simple as visiting someone who’s sick or hasn’t been here in awhile. Whenever we move beyond hearing and seeing to actually touching, we get closer to really believing.

In fact, we can start right now. Stand and greet each other with signs of peace.

Amen.