"Will you continue...?"

by The Reverend Whitney W. Roberson

Four times a year we baptize at Grace Cathedral and families bringing their children for baptism attend a class preparing them for this very special occasion. It's a chance for us to reflect together on the meaning of the vows parents and godparents will make on behalf of the little one they are presenting. Over the past several months, I've been musing in this space on the final five of these vows. This time, I'd like to consider another: "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers?"

If the wording of this vow sounds a little unusual, it's because the phrasing is a self-description of the life of the earliest Christian community and comes from the New Testament, from the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus' first followers had been transformed by their relationship with the Risen Christ and when they told their incredible story and began fearlessly to do the things He had done, others joined them and experienced the same transformation: "They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship," Luke tells us in Acts, "to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon them, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common…" It's hard, perhaps, for us to imagine what this incredible time must have been like, but lest we be tempted to idealize those early days, we need to remember that Luke also tells of the struggles - well, okay, the fights and arguments - the young Christian community experienced.

Perhaps, though, it's these very arguments that make the self-description from which our vow comes so poignant, for this life together, warts and all, was lived by people who had a very real and lively sense of the Presence and love of God in their lives. When they taught and gathered, Christ was in their words and their gathering; when they ate and drank, Christ was the Host; when they prayed together Christ was there. And when they argued, well, Christ was with them then just as surely as when everything was rosy-and they knew it. The teaching, the Meal, the prayers all served to remind them that whatever was happening they were held in a Love so amazing that they found they could do most anything: even solve impossible disagreements! And these community disciplines were resources that supported them through such times, the "tools" as it were that could bring them into a more generous place, helping them recover with one another the divine Hospitality to which they'd been called.

So what could it possibly mean, then, when we're asked "to continue" this hospitality, this life together? Is it really possible to believe that Christ is still with us when we gather -- always, everywhere and in all things? I wonder what might it mean for our family lives, this unlikely vow? I wonder what it could mean in your family? The resources described in this vow belong to all of us, by virtue of our baptism; they are not so much duties as gifts! I wonder, do we appreciate these gifts, these "tools," keeping them in good repair, practicing them regularly so that when the difficult times do come (as they do in all families) we remember we'll know how to make use of them? God-in-Christ is present in our family life, but how can we be sure we'll remember, be sure we'll open ourselves to Christ's healing presence when we most need it? I wonder...