08 November 2015 Solihull Baptism, Remembrance, Communion

"Blessed are you..."

Bible readings: Psalm 46; Matthew 5:1-12

A Baptism. An Act of Remembrance on Remembrance Sunday. Communion. They are linked together in the experience of blessing. Bringing someone (in this case a child) for baptism is a sign of hope, a commitment to a future with a loving God in response to the fact that God is always with us. "All this for you" we say to the person being baptised "before  you could know anything of it". On a wider canvas, the Psalm reminds us of the peace and blessing that comes to us in our daily lives, in society, in the city, in the world when we dwell with the God who is already dwelling with us. Yet when the Psalmists think of how God brings about that peace in the world, they can only do so in terms of a violent, powerful war-lord God who annihilates enemies. In the New Testament we find a deeper understanding demonstrated in the story of Jesus. Jesus is not gentle, meek and mild in the sense of being a "wimp". There is a steel in him. But he is able to absorb into himself all the violence and evil that is around him or that people pour on him, and trusts that God will create order out of chaos, and life out of it - because that is what God is like. The Beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel describe someone living in Jesus's way. They are not just saying that "things might be awful now, but will be reversed in the future". They are saying that the people who mourn, who hunger and thirst for things to be right in the world, who seek to make peace are blessed now whilst they are doing those things - and, by the way, things will be alright in the future as well. So as we remember those who have died as a result of warfare, we remember the death of Jesus; and as we gather round his table, we become one with him in his way of bringing peace, life and hope to the world around us.