"Eyes Wide Open"

Acts 8:26-40

Romans 6:1-11

A Sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

May 6, 2001

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

What a great day this is. It is a time when we remember as Baptists the two ordinances of the church. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are not sacraments. Doing these acts, participating like we do does not save us. Rather they are outward signs that we have committed our lives to Jesus and that we gain sustenance for the journey of faith.

Kellynn, we’re grateful for your witness amongst us today. We pray that we are able to help you on your journey, just as you have helped us on ours by taking the baptismal vows before all of us to see.

This is a time and place where we could all open our eyes a bit wider because of what you have dared to do among us. You join in a long line of those whose eyes have been opened. We remember Paul who had scales come down from his eyes when his former enemy embraced him and called him brother. You are in a church of people whose eyes are wide open and can see the truth and are willing to humbly and happily embrace that truth.

But for this context, the best story of one whose eyes are open is the story of the eunuch whose eyes are opened by Phillip and reacts by requesting baptism.

The person requesting baptism is very important. This is an outsider. A eunuch was a sexual outcast and as such was not allowed to be a member of the Jewish religious community. As the one in charge of the treasury he was also seen as unclean. On top of this, he was African and as such was of a different race. He had three strikes against him. Wrong race, wrong job, wrong sexual function. He had just returned, we know from Jerusalem where he had been to worship. I can’t help but imagine that his worship experience had not been a pleasant one. Maybe he could relate to the words of Isaiah; "In his humiliation, justice was denied him."

We all know of people whom the church shuns for lack of purity. We all know that justice is denied to many people in the name of Christianity. Here at this church, being Welcoming and Affirming means hearing the stories of those whom society and even organized religion has shunned. We welcome all who have been bruised and we affirm them in their journey, calling them all to a new relationship with us and with God. We take our cue from Phillip.

When confronted with this three strikes and you’re out person, what is the response of Phillip?

Is it to uphold the spiritual tradition and exclude as the religious culture teaches?

Is it to say that the church needs to grow, but only by the homogeneity principle, where it needs to be filled with people just like me?

No. Phillip welcomes him. Phillip says it is precisely to you that the church is called. It is your inclusion into the fold that makes the church the real church. It’s what opens our eyes.

We are all called to have our eyes opened.

When we take our baptismal vows seriously, we have our eyes wide open.

When our eyes are wide open, we see not just the barriers, but the opportunities before us.

When our eyes are wide open, we see our former enemies as possible allies in the future.

When our eyes are wide open, we see beyond the seduction of the powers and principalities of this world and start seeing the world through God’s eyes.

When our eyes are wide open, we see those who might have been seen as outcast.

Michael came to Dolores Street Baptist Church in San Francisco as a seeming outcast. He was HIV positive and had been a heroin addict for 25 years. But when he was diagnosed, he got himself clean and went in search of God. He and his partner came with their street humor and their ignorance of proper conduct in a worship service. They would periodically talk at length with the preacher during the sermon, or monopolize the Joys and Concerns sharing. But they were there every Sunday. They even brought extra food to share with some of the poorer members of the congregation. Mike was a big teddy bear that you couldn’t help but love. They had few friends and family relations were strained at best. But he taught that church how to be family to each other.

It was shortly after his partner Jose died that Michael started talking about baptism. He told me that he was probably baptized as a child in a Methodist church, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of was that his life had changed and that he wanted to make sure that he symbolized his new life in the waters of Baptism.

Gathered above the borrowed baptistery down the street, we wept as we heard Mike make his baptismal vows. When he came up out of the water mingled with all of our tears, he saw not only his church family, but his mother from North Carolina, his daughter with whom he had recently reestablished contact and his grandson.

I try to remember the child I was when I was Baptized. I can almost remember. But when I think about baptism, I think about Michael. I think about symbolizing the fact that your life has turned around. I think about how Jesus ministry was with those whom others would not touch. I give thanks for that reminder and I give thanks that in the last year of Michael’s life, he had a surety about his purpose and his destiny. Mike reminded me what baptism is all about: a symbol of new life.

May we approach each day with eyes wide open to the possibilities out there. May we experience and celebrate our commitment to each other and to the work of the church of Jesus Christ. May we remember that as we go through the waters of baptism, we do so and look at the world with new eyes. Eyes wide open enough to see the love of God in the faces of those around us. And if we look closely enough, we might even see the Holy Spirit descending like a dove once again. The key is to keep those eyes open.

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