Year C, Proper 12 (Luke 11:1-13)
St. Anne’s Episcopal, Conway
July 27, 2025, 10:00 A.M.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Good Morning –
Today is a great day in the life of the church. I will tell you that there are few greater celebrations in the church year than this day. For today is a day of baptism. Today is the day that we welcome Alexandra (who goes by Lexi) into the household of faith. Today is the day that she will be set apart as Christ’s own forever.
Today is also the day that we remember our own baptism. Most of us, like me, were baptized as infants, and we lack a specific recollection. However, every time we join in the baptism of someone else, we are partaking of our own baptism once again, for we too have been set apart as Christ’s own forever.
In examining today’s gospel lesson in relation to baptism, one common theme present in everything we do today is the Holy Spirit, and the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying Lexi and us.
In today’s Gospel lesson, we heard another version of the Lord’s Prayer. (The one we’ll say later is from Matthew’s Gospel.) And in the Gospel lesson, not only does Jesus instruct us to pray this Prayer, but when we examine the parable and the teaching that follows, Jesus is telling us to pray the Lord’s Prayer continuously, persistently, and impertinently.
Jesus tells us that we are to demand that God answer this Prayer. And he tells us that the answer God gives us is the good gift of the Holy Spirit. With apologies to Janis Joplin, God is not going to give us a Mercedes-Benz, but he is going to give us his Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit that God gives us is the work of sanctification. Sanctification is one of those big theological words for which lots of ink has been spilled. But sanctification is not complicated.
The word derives from the Latin word “sanctus” which just means “holy.” In its most common sense, it simply means for someone or something to be set apart from the ordinary things of this world for God’s purpose. For example, in the Old Testament, the Levites, or the priests, were set apart from the rest of Israel for the purpose of serving God.
Within a specifically Christian context, sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit works within us to grow into the fullness of the redeemed life. Being set apart from the world, through the Holy Spirit, is the process by which we become holy. The process by which we grow into the knowledge and love of God. The process by which we ultimately become partakers of the divine nature. Sanctification is not a once-and-done action by the Holy Spirit, but a continuous activity of the Spirit in drawing us apart from this world and joining us to the world to come.
Sanctification is an act of Grace. It is a gift. It is not about what we do for ourselves, but about what God is doing for us. Whenever we baptize an infant or young child, we directly see the goodness and graciousness of God. Lexi has conducted a careful analysis of Christian beliefs and traditions, and has decided this is something she wants to do. Rather, she comes to be baptized today not of her own volition, but that of her parents. As Jesus implies in the Gospel, a child is incapable of receiving a gift on their own, and the gift must be given to them.
However, this is also true for all of us. As Jesus will later teach the disciples, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” In the receipt of grace, we are all children, for we are all incapable of receiving the gift on our own; it must be given to us by our Father in heaven. And so it is today that we see not only the power of God’s grace in Lexi’s coming to her baptism, but we see how we, too, must also come to receive God’s grace. Lexi is our example to follow.
Once Lexi has been presented for Baptism, our Baptismal service takes us through the Holy Spirit’s actions in history so that we can begin to see how the Holy Spirit sanctifies and acts within each of us.
Turn to page 12 of your bulletin under the “Thanksgiving Over the Water.” (1979 BCP 306). As you may know, Hebrew and Greek use the same word for both wind and spirit. Therefore, the Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit moved over the waters at creation in Genesis 1. When God created, the Holy Spirit was there.
The Holy Spirit was also moving over the Red Sea in Exodus 14, enabling the Israelites to escape bondage in Egypt and causing the pursing army to be drowned. When God redeemed and saved his people, the Holy Spirit was there.
The third example given is the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his own baptism, which inaugurated Jesus’s ministry. When Jesus sets out on his journey to the Cross and ultimately his Resurrection, the Holy Spirit was there as well.
Because of this historical relationship between the Holy Spirit and water, Father Kevin will invoke the Holy Spirit to sanctify, set apart, and make holy the baptismal water. Therefore, just as the Spirit worked through the waters in the past, so now the Holy Spirit will work through those very waters in the baptismal font in regard to Lexi.
The same power that was active at the birth of creation, is now active in the rebirth and new life of Lexi. The same power that enabled the Israelites to escape slavery is now active in enabling Lexi to escape from her slavery to sin and death and be forgiven. And the same power that was present at Jesus’s baptism, is now active in aiding Lexi to become like Jesus. The water is set apart and sanctified, so that Lexi, too, may be set apart and sanctified. It is these sanctifying gifts that were given to each of us at our own baptism and are actively working within us now.
After the baptism, Father Kevin will say to Lexi: “you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” This marks the beginning of her sanctification. This is the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit within her. Lexi has now been set apart from the rulers and authorities of this world. She has been set apart to be reborn and re-created in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. She has been set apart to the Eternal Priesthood of Christ.
As we celebrate her baptism, so we must remember ours. Remember that you have been set apart in your baptism. Remember that you are being sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Remember that you too have been set aside in the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ and that the Spirit is actively working within you, transforming you into his likeness.
Let me leave you with one open thought. Prayers for sanctification are not limited to the baptismal rite. Rather, they are also found in the Eucharistic Prayers as well. That, however, is another sermon for another day. But, I ask that you pay attention when Father Kevin says those prayers today as well. Christ gave us two sacraments for our sanctification – one when we enter into the household of faith, and one to nourish within the household of faith. But today is a day to celebrate another addition to Christ’s Holy Church. Lexi, welcome to the household of faith.
AMEN
Sources: An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: Sanctification