TRINITY VIII
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be alway acceptable unto Thee, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
From the Epistle: "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father"
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The desire to adopt a child is a powerful and mysterious force.
Prospective adoptive parents go to amazing lengths to find a child with whom to share their love.
Those who have not been involved in process of adoption simply cannot imagine the mountains of red tape, financial expense, and personal humiliation which is involved in adoption today.
Even worse is the cycle of hope and disappointment.
One day there is a call about the possibility of a child that might be available for adoption.
Of course, there always seems to be some problem, some risk. associated with the child in question.
So, the adoptive couple wrestles with the difficult decisions deciding whether or not they wish to be considered for this adoption.
Ultimately, they call back and put their names on the list.
Weeks, months, pass, with no word on their application.
And then comes the call, either the birth mother has decided to keep the child,
or some other couple has been selected.
And their world crashes.
But the adoptive parents keep trying, despite all the disappointments.
The amazing thing about all of this is that people voluntarily choose to put themselves through this process.
No one holds a gun to your head and says you must adopt.
But such is the active, searching, passionate, and relentless power of parental love.
Of course, it is driven by the hope that one day the search will be crowned by success.
One day, a child will be found.
One day, there will be another with whom to share your love.
As powerful as is the love which drives adoptive parents, it pales when compared with the love of God for us.
God, who knows all about us, everything we have ever said or done or thought, both good and bad, and everything we ever will, searches for us.
In His love, He has chosen us.
Not for anything we will ever do or be, but simply because He loves us and wants us to be His children.
So much so, He sent His Son to pay our adoption fee, on the Cross.
When we baptized, a wonderful and mysterious thing happened.
In that Sacrament, we were adopted by God.
We received a new birth, and a new Father.
This new birth is Our Lord spoke of when he said "Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
In the Sacrament of Baptism, we were given new birth.
We were born as natural creatures.
In Baptism, we are reborn as supernatural, spiritual beings.
We become, by adoption, what Jesus is by nature, God's child.
God becomes our Father in Baptism.
All people are his beloved creatures, but only in Baptism do we become His children.
In Baptism, we receive a new birth and a new Father, and we receive the Holy Spirit.
"The Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry ABBA, Father".
The Holy Spirit establishes the emotional bond between Our Heaven Father and ourselves.
In the Power of the Spirit, we can approach our Heavenly Father with confidence, knowing that we are loved, we are His without reservation, regardless of whether we feel worthy of that love, or not.
Our new relationship with God is a wonderful privilege, but like all privileges, it comes with certain responsibilities.
When we are adopted as God's children, we become a part of God's family, the Church.
Baptism is not a "me and God" Sacrament.
God has other children.
When we are baptized, we become Brothers or Sisters with every other Baptized Christian.
We express our love and gratitude towards God chiefly through caring for His other children.
Our Lord, when He appeared to Peter after the Resurrection, made this very clear:
Jesus asked Peter: “Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”
And Peter answered, “Yea Lord: thou knowest that I love thee.”
And Jesus said to Him: "feed my sheep".
When we accept our new status as children of God, we also accept the responsibility to care for our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.
The Church is a family, not a social club.
In a social club, you can choose whom you will admit, but in the Church, it is God who does the choosing.
We must accept his decisions.
We love each other as brothers and sisters, whether we see eye to eye on each issue, or not.
We are not called to change or reform our brothers and sisters, we are simply called to love them.
And finally, there is one other responsibility that we accept in Baptism.
We must also be aware that God's family is not yet complete.
There are still those whom God wants to adopt.
"Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd".
It is God who does the adopting, but we are called to do our part.
It is God who calls, but it is His children who carry the message.
It is our responsibility to carry the Good News that God is still in the adoption business to those who have not yet received the blessings of adoption.
God's family is not yet complete, and our greatest responsibility and privilege is to seek out new Sons and Daughters for our Heavenly Father.
Of course, we accept a risk when we carry this message.
Some people are simply not ready to accept Adoption.
When we try to carry God's invitation to people, we will inevitably experience some rejection.
But imagine the joy which will be ours when we welcome a newborn brother or sister into God's family, knowing that we been used by our Father to bring them those same blessings which we have received.
Amen.
And now we ascribe, as is most justly due, unto Thee, O Lord, all might, majesty,
power, and dominion, both now and forever. Amen.