I want to carry forward this morning some of the themes Greg lifted for us last week, as we remembered the baptism of Jesus and our own. Participation in that service of Baptismal Renewal is always powerful and moving. I know that for many of us who were baptized as infants or children, that service allows us now as adults to more fully experience for ourselves the power and beauty of the sacrament.

As sacrament, baptism speaks to us on many levels. It touches our hearts and reaches deep into our souls. It gets us thinking as we ponder anew all that it means to be united with Christ and his church. And it draws us closer to God and to one another.

This morning, we are fortunate to share in the baptism of Sophie Rose, with her immediate family, as her larger church family here in this congregation. We have the symbols and the sounds and power of baptism at the heart of our worship again this morning. We lift her in prayer, our new baby sister in the faith, and pledge ourselves to surround her with love and care.

Tomorrow evening we will have another opportunity to explore the meanings and ramifications of our baptism as we gather again for worship in the sanctuary of our neighbors, St. Monica's Catholic Church. Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson has graciously extended that invitation again. We will gather to worship together and this year to remember our baptism in the renewal of our baptismal vows. Some of the words we say will sound very familiar to us from our own baptismal liturgy. But, in this setting, we will be United Methodists and Catholics, Lutherans and Baptists, Presbyterians and Nazarenes, gathered around the one font, and renewed from the same fountain of life, Jesus Christ.

For many years now we have gratefully participated in this service as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This observance began in 1908 as a way of uniting the churches in prayer for the unity Christ yearns for in the church. Over the years, a variety of denominational and ecumenical groups have participated, starting first among various Protestant churches. After the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960's, the Roman Catholic Church joined in this annual Week of Prayer of Christian Unity.

For most of us, this annual worship service is the most familiar and visible expression of the unity we share with other Christians. But, over the course of the year, The United Methodist Church is engaged in various ecumenical discussions and studies, primarily through one of our bishops, who is designated to serve as Ecumenical Officer, and through the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, which, you may remember, came here for dinner as part of its regular meeting last October.

There have been many milestones and important developments along the way in our growth towards unity. Significant bilateral accords have been achieved over the years. In recent years, you may have read of the concordat among Lutherans and Episcopalians, allowing mutual recognition of ordination. And in 1999, the historic agreement between Lutherans and Catholics on the primary doctrinal issue that triggered the Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith.

Most recently, we have read of discussions in England between the Church of England and the Methodist Church looking at the possibility of "full visible union" for the first time since the Methodist Church was founded more than 250 years ago. There are a few significant obstacles to overcome, like the Methodist insistence that all church offices are open to both men and women, but surely, those can be overcome. Why? Because fundamentally our unity comes not through our own efforts but as a gift from God.

The theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year comes from Psalm 36, which we heard read this morning: "For with you is the Fountain of Life." This theme reminds us that what makes all this unity possible, indeed what makes this unity imperative, is our common baptism. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. By our common baptism, we have already become members of the one body of Christ.

I am grateful for this emphasis this year, because it gives us all the chance to learn a bit more about the foundation of church unity and of our ecumenical work. That foundation is our baptism, and all the accords and agreements we can work out are manifestations of that unity, and we all know how hard it can sometimes be to achieve.

But most of us grew up with a little fuzzy thinking about all this. We so like to emphasize our different baptisms. Baptists dunk, Methodists sprinkle. Catholics-we're not sure. Some of us were baptized as infants, others at confirmation, still others as adults.

Many people who decide to become members here often ask: "I was baptized Lutheran, or Presbyterian, or Catholic…or…Do I have to be rebaptized to join this church?" The answer is NO. We don't re-baptize. Once you're baptized, you're baptized, and all those of us who gather tomorrow evening officially recognize each other's baptism.

To symbolize this, tomorrow night we are going to share again in the Renewal of our Baptismal Vows, only this time, we'll do it ecumenically. I know it's one more thing to come out for, especially following on the heels of the Church Conference tonight, but I hope you'll take this opportunity to deepen the experience we had here together last week in our renewal. It's going to be wonderful and very special.

You know, as we gathered to plan the service for tomorrow around this theme "For with You is the Fountain of Life," we realized something exciting. It came to us as we sat around the table over at St. Monica's rectory, that not only could we participate together, equally, fully-Protestant-Catholic, men-women, high church-low church-in the renewal of our baptismal vows, we could even go so far as to celebrate a baptism all together.

We decided not to this year mainly because of time constraints, but great joy came as we realized that we could do it. I checked with the ecumenical officer of our denomination to make sure I had it right. Msgr. checked with the ecumenical officer of the Diocese. Green lights. And I hope we will do it one of these years, because I believe that this visible recognition of our common baptism can help move us along towards full recognition of one another's ordination, and bring us eventually all together around the Lord's Table for the sacrament of Holy Communion.

The day will come, on earth as in heaven, when Protestant and Catholic, women and men, high church and low church, will be united as one in witness and service to the world. We will no doubt still cherish our different ways of doing things-sprinkling, dunking, and so forth. But in that day to come, those differences will be like differences among colors and shapes of birds, expressing the delight and joy of variety and variation, rather than looming as barriers of custom and prejudice.

When we remember our baptism, whether here in this sanctuary or tomorrow night at St. Monica's, we not only think back to the time when we were brought to the font. Perhaps even more importantly, we remember the vows and commitments we made at that time or that were made on our behalf by our parents and sponsors. We renew our pledge to grow into that new identity in Christ Jesus and to live as his disciples in this world.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. By our common baptism, we have become members of the one body of Christ.

Today, Sophie Rose has been baptized into the church universal. When she grows up, I wonder if she will ever fully realize just how many new brothers and sisters were added to her family tree this morning through the waters of baptism? Will she come to know that, through this sacrament, she has become part of the whole church, traversing all time and space? Will she understand that she counts among her siblings all the saints, from the earliest days of the church and all the way into the future only God can see? Will she feel related to her relatives all across this globe, in cultures of every kind, speaking languages nearly beyond count? For, in the waters of baptism, she shares with them all the language of God's love, the culture of Christian discipleship, and the promise of life everlasting.

It was Jesus' prayer, offered during his last night with his disciples, that we be one. In this world, where religion still too often divides rather than unites, may we fervently pray for that unity and live into it even now, that the world may see and know the light of Christ and grow in faith and hope.

AMEN.

© Patricia E. Farris, 2002. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.