Apostles Anglican Church
Fr. John A. Roop

Elections, Baptism, and Sainthood
(Deut 6:1-9, Ps 119:1-16, Heb 7:23-28, Mark 12:28-34)

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Two days hence, and the long national nightmare of the 2024 presidential campaign will be over, news which calls for the liturgical response:

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

During the past several months of this political torture, I have re-evaluated my commitment to The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, specifically to Article XXII which asserts that “The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory…is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God” (BCP 2019, p. 780). While I believe that repudiation to be theologically sound, this political season has nonetheless felt like purgatory but without the spiritual benefits of purification. All politics and politicians seem as before: crass, crude, tribal, narcissistic, proud, power hungry — nothing to indicate that purgation is substantially underway and that the bliss of heaven might be anywhere near.

We have been assured by candidates, surrogates, and pundits that this is the most consequential election in history: the most consequential for the economy and the environment, for human rights and the right to life, for immigration and foreign policy, for war or peace, for democracy or totalitarianism or socialism or marxism, the most consequential for the free world and even for the planet — everything expressed in superlatives, written in title font and boldface, punctuated with multiple exclamation points. For over six decades Smokey Bear has pointed to me from posters and television screens reminding me that only I can prevent forest fires. Only me: that’s a heavy burden — one I didn’t sign up for and one that I don’t know that I can bear! The same is being said about this election. Every single vote matters, which means my vote matters supremely. Only I can prevent an existential crisis for these United States. Not only do I have to prevent forest fires, now I also have to decide the future of the world, and all on Tuesday next, barring early voting. That yoke is hard, and that burden is heavy.

The antithesis of this political fear mongering is the utopian political vision. Each candidate has promised the dawning of a new and golden age if only he or she is elected, a time like none before: economic prosperity, corporate justice, world peace, and personal freedom hitherto unknown.

All this is a lie; all this false propaganda, all these empty promises, all this weighty anxiety, all this tribal division, all this visceral hatred comes from the father of lies who wants our vision to be cast no further than the next four years; who wants our vices to dominate our virtues; who wants our hopes to be anchored in party or program or person; who wants us to see our tribe, our agenda, our society, our country as the ultimate good for which all else must be sacrificed. All this is a lie. Decades ago C. S. Lewis offered a different perspective, the true perspective:

Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, HarperOne (2001), p. 46).

I do not want to trivialize any of the things Lewis mentioned, nor did he: nations, cultures, arts, civilisations, nor even our own upcoming presidential election. I do not want to trivialize them, but I do want to relativize them, because Scripture does, because the Gospel does. I want to put them in their proper, relative place in the great narrative of redemption, to dethrone them and to make them subservient to the Gospel. Either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will be elected President of the United States on Tuesday, and either way Jesus will still be Lord. Our democracy will likely survive the election and the next four years, but, even if it does not, the Kingdom of God will stand. Our nation is built upon a Constitution written by exceptionally brilliant but still fallible men and now governed by men and women not so obviously brilliant but certainly as fallible; but the Church is built upon the Rock of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, and upon his delegated Apostolic authority, and nothing, not even the gates of hell, will prevail against it.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, HarperOne (2001), p. 46).

Brothers and sisters, what will happen on Tuesday next is important, but it is also as nothing compared to what will happen here this day. Here in this place on this day, the word of God is proclaimed and is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). Here in this place on this day, we will humbly confess our sins to Almighty God, who is “faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Here in this place on this day, the prayers of the saints, the prayers of the people, will rise before God to be offered with much incense on the golden altar before God’s throne, will rise before God from the hand of the angel to be answered with the power of thunder and lightning and the rumbling of an earthquake, as fire from that altar is cast down to earth, prayers offered and answered (see Rev 8:1-5). Here in this place on this day, the Last Supper in the Upper Room on the last Passover of the Old Covenant and the Wedding Supper of the Lamb yet to come on the last, great day come rushing together from past and future into our present, and we stand at the intersection of what was and what is yet to be, at the intersection of heaven and earth and we feast on the bread and wine of the Kingdom of God, on the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ given for you and for me and for us all.

In describing what happens in this place — in any little church — on this day, Frederica Mathewes-Green writes:

In a few hours heaven will strike earth like lightning on this spot. The worshippers in this little building will be swept into a divine worship that proceeds eternally, grand with seraphim and incense and God enthroned, “high and lifted up. The house was full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1). The foundations of that temple shake with the voices of angels calling “Holy” to each other, and we will be there, lifting fallible voices in the refrain, an outpost of eternity. If this is true, it is the most astonishing thing that will happen in our city today (Frederica Mathewes-Green, At The Corner of East and Now, Prologue).

Is this more astonishing, more consequential, more existentially important than the upcoming election? Oh, yes: more than any election anywhere, anytime. We have come this morning not to a mere polling place to cast a mere vote:

Hebrews 12:22–24 (ESV): 22But [we] have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

We have come to enter the presence of God with confidence through the mediation of Jesus the eternal high priest who is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them (see Heb 7:23-25).

Is this more astonishing, more consequential, more existentially important than the upcoming election? Oh, yes! But, let us make no mistake, brothers and sisters; this, too, is all about election.

Ephesians 1:3–14 (ESV): 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

From before the foundations of the world, God the Father chose to have a people for himself in and through his Son Jesus Christ: an elect people who would themselves become his sons, an elect people upon whom to shower the riches of his grace of redemption and forgiveness, an elect people upon whom to bestow an inheritance of hope, an elect people upon whom to place the seal of his Holy Spirit to guarantee that inheritance. This, brothers and sisters, is the most consequential election of all time, when God voted for you and for all who have and who will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

This election has nothing to do with a new, temporal, political administration in Washington, but rather with the in-breaking of a new kingdom, with the Kingdom of God making itself manifest in the midst of this fallen world. It is not new administration, but rather new creation.

If anyone is in Christ — new creation. The old has passed away; look, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17, author’s translation).

Brothers and sisters, new creation will burst upon us this day in this place as we bring four children to the water of baptism: four children who through their own faith and the faith of their parents, the obedience of the Church, the love of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will this day in this place join the elect sons and daughters of God. If anyone is in Christ — as these four soon will be — new creation! This new creation is witness to the world of the sovereignty of God. This new creation is witness to the Church of the faithfulness of God. This new creation is witness to you and to me of the redemptive, sacrificial, saving love of God by which we are sealed with the Holy Spirit and guaranteed our inheritance.

On the day when Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him, in the moment Jesus came up out of the water:

Matthew 3:16–17 (ESV): the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

On this day in this place, when we bless the water of baptism, it becomes for us sacramentally the water of that same Jordan, so that those baptized in it are washed with the water Jesus himself sanctified by his baptism, so that they may indeed “be cleansed from sin, be born again, and continue for ever faithful in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior…[to whom with the Father and] the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and forever” (BCP 2019, p. 168). On this day in this place, with the eyes and ears of faith we too see the Holy Spirit descend as each newly baptized child of God is signed with the cross and sealed as Christ’s own forever, and we hear the declaration of the Father, “This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.” Brothers and sisters, remember your own baptism and rejoice. Remember that you are part of and testimony to new creation and give thanks. Remember that you are elect among the people of God and praise God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — for the wonder of that, for the wonder of his love.

These four children soon to be baptized will become infants in Christ. As wonderful as that is, they must not remain so. Nor can we. Hear St. Paul:

Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV): 11And [Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We are — these four and all of us — to grow into the stature of the fullness of Christ: a tall order, a high calling, yes. French novelist Léon Bloy expressed it this way in his work “The Woman Who Was Poor:”

The only real sadness,

the only real failure,

the only great tragedy in life,

is not to become a saint.

In baptism, these four will be made saints, just as we were, all of us, made saints. Now, moving on from baptism, the vocation given to all of us, the task before all of us, is to become saints, to become truly what we truly are. We do this to the degree that we pierce to the heart of things:

Mark 12:28–31 (ESV): 28And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that [Jesus] answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The saint is not one who is sinless, not one who works miracles, not one who has prophetic powers, not one who understands all mysteries and all knowledge, not one who gives away all his goods and who even gives up his life (see 1 Cor 13:1-3). Saints may indeed do all these things, but that is not the essence of sainthood. If they do all these things but do not have love, they gain nothing. The saint is the one who loves the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength and who loves his neighbor beyond all constraints of self-interest. Our high calling is to become such saints ourselves and to help others — not least to help these four children soon to be baptized here — to become such saints.

Go vote on Tuesday if your sense of civic duty compels you, if the Spirit convicts you, and if you haven’t already voted early. Vote with prayer, perhaps with a prayer of national repentance for the mess we have made of the blessings God has given our nation. Two weeks ago I commended my ballot to God and the scanner with the sign of the Cross, not knowing then or now whether I made the right decision, but trusting, as Thomas Merton prayed, that my desire to please God does, in fact, please him. I voted with the faith that whomever is elected, however the nation fares under the coming administration, the Kingdom of God will prevail. I voted with an eye toward this day, toward these baptisms, toward this act and proclamation of new creation in which we “let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made” (BCP 2019, p. 646), even Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.