Giving Thanks

August 4, 2019 by Amy Richter In Baptismal Covenant, Episcopal Worship, Thanksgiving 9 Comments

“What if you woke up today with only the things you gave thanks to God for yesterday?”

The Rev. Mary Balfour Dunlap, Associate Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Southern Pines, NC, began her sermon this morning with this quote and question. Her insightful sermon was a reflection on the psalm appointed for today, Psalm 107:1-9, 43, which begins, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his mercy endures for ever,” as well as the Gospel lesson for the day, Luke 12:13-21, about the foolish man who stores up treasures for himself but is not rich toward God.

What if you woke up today with only the things you gave thanks to God for yesterday?

Coming home for a time while we’ve been serving as Episcopal Volunteers in Mission has given me an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve been grateful for while worshipping in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and back at home in the Episcopal Church.

It has been a privilege to worship with our sisters and brothers in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. I’ve written about some of the gifts of that experience in a few other posts, Crying in Church, Meditating with My Eyes Open, and Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise.

While we’ve been home, it’s been a gift to worship with familiar words, to sing hymns to familiar tunes, and today, it was a gift to participate in a baptism and to renew our baptismal covenant.

In South Africa, we got to participate in some baptisms, which was great. But the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s prayer book does not have the Baptismal Covenant. And I’ve missed it.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Baptismal Covenant, it is this series of questions and responses made by the people being baptized and the congregation. It’s a statement of our belief in the triune God, expressed in the words of the Creed, and the ways we intend to live our beliefs.

Celebrant	Do you believe in God the Father?
People	I believe in God, the Father almighty,     creator of heaven and earth.
Celebrant	Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People	I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,     He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit         and born of the Virgin Mary.     He suffered under Pontius Pilate,         was crucified, died, and was buried.     He descended to the dead.     On the third day he rose again.     He ascended into heaven,         and is seated at the right hand of the Father.     He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Celebrant	Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People	I believe in the Holy Spirit,     the holy catholic Church,     the communion of saints,     the forgiveness of sins,     the resurrection of the body,     and the life everlasting.
Celebrant	Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and  fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the  prayers?
People	I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant	Will you persevere in resisting evil, and , whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People	I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant	Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People	I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant	Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People	I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant	Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People	I will, with God’s help.

I’ve missed using these words in church. I’ve missed the public recitation of these promises as part of the community of faith. I’ve even missed being confronted with my need to recommit to these promises that I experience every time we say the baptismal covenant. Although I’ve made these promises so many times, there’s always at least one where I think, Oh yeah, that.

Absence from this liturgy has made me even more grateful that I am part of a church that has formed me as a disciple, a servant of God, a follower of Jesus Christ in part by reminding me over and over again that we trust in the triune God and, with God’s help, our life is to be lived out in these ways. In a world where we are tempted to define ourselves in terms of what we own, or what we like or dislike, instead the church teaches that we are, with God’s help, people who practice particular virtues and live particular verbs.

I am so grateful.

For Episcopalians especially, (but open to anyone’s thoughts), is there one of these questions and responses that you find especially helpful, meaningful, important?