Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? (from the Baptismal Covenant, BCP pg 305)
In many Native American cultures it is common to introduce oneself in relationship to other members of one’s family. My friend Rena would say something like: “I am Rena, Flossy Brown’s daughter, Calvin’s mother, and Harold Redman is my grandfather.” This places her among her people. She belongs to them, and they belong to her. When she is out in the world, she is a representative of this family. They are bound by her actions, and she is bound by theirs. Blood feuds, debts, pledges and changes in status are family matters accrued as the result of the deeds of its members.
Saint Teresa of Avila once, in an inner conversation with Jesus, spoke the truth of her heart distilled through prayer and contemplation and said, “I am Teresa of Jesus.” By this she meant that she felt a profound connection to Christ that gave her a sense of absolute belonging. Imagine her surprise when the response she heard was, “And I am Jesus of Teresa.” In the Church we belong to one another and to Jesus absolutely. And Jesus belongs to us. Our family is the Body of Christ.
According to our catechism, the Good News of God in Christ is that we all have a place in the Kingdom of God. I like to think of the Kingdom as the Dream of God. It includes each one of us in an abundant acceptance. Proclaiming this means living into it and, by word and example, inviting others to do the same. We all have the little mustard seed within us.
We are doing this all the time, whenever we welcome the stranger, support those who have fallen into misfortune, resolve differences we have with others, exist as people of integrity. We do these things as members of our family, as people who belong to Jesus.
Across the course of our lives both our understanding of the Good News and the ways we proclaim it will mature and deepen. We are invited into this process through our core relationship with God in prayer and our relationship with each other in worship and study. The Dream of God is always bigger than human understanding. But no matter how young in faith or how seasoned we are this is the core understanding: we belong to God and one another through God’s abundant love as exemplified by Jesus. We have a place in the Kingdom.
