The Family Business - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

I feel like that's a lot of the ways that people see the family business of Christianity today, of the Church of God's work. It's something that we think is kind of interesting and cool. So maybe kind of, well, definitely not cool. No one ever says the church is cool, but sort of like, you know, interesting and like, oh, this thing that we're a part of, I know we've got these customs and we're going to get these kids baptized. It's just a thing that you do. It's part of our family, but that's not the family business that Jesus is about. That is not what it means to be part of God's family to call God Father to call Jesus brother. Jesus, from before the foundations of the world, is destined to love this world and bring healing and reconciliation; to care for this world, to bind up the brokenhearted, to save people, and to liberate people. And now you are in the family business. If you are baptized, that is now your job too. Baptism isn't just about what happens to you in this little moment or some joyous moment that you forget in the life of the church. It's about the rest of your life. Baptism isn't about where you get to go when you die. Baptism is about who you are when you live and what you are about. You are about the family business. You are the body of Christ. You. I'm looking at God's daughters and sons right now. And what is Christ's work in the world? To love it deeply from the heart, to change this world, to make it more just and equitable, to create a world that is meaningfully and truthfully and practically better than it was when we got here.