Because I rather like trees, I would like to be able to meet an Ent. But I am grateful that I have never had to baptise an Ent. Ents are the creation of the remarkably fertile imagination of JRR Tolkien in his great book ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Ents are immensely old, tree-like, tree shepherds. In the story an Ent rescues the two hobbits Merry and Pippin from the Orcs. The Hobbits introduce themselves and then ask the Ent his name – to which he replies:
‘I am not going to tell you my name; not yet at any rate. For one thing it would take a long while; my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language. It’s a lovely language, but it takes a long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.’
Clearly baptising an Ent would take a long time whereas no-one this morning has more than four names. Even so, whenever we baptise someone the Church tells the story of its name and that can take longer to name. And for an anxious parent desperate for a baby not to make too much noise or wriggling, it can seem as though the church has a very long name. We tell the story of the church’s name in the prayer over the water in the font. That name begins at the moment of creation where order is made out of chaos; the name grows through the story of the children of Israel and their escape from slavery, the name is proclaimed most clearly in the life death and resurrection of Jesus, and yet it goes on growing, incorporating into itself the names and the stories of all those who are baptised into the church. The church’s name is growing all the time and it tells the story of all that belong to it; and to the name of the church are added this morning the names of Pia, Mary, and Emma.
We tend to think that the child being baptised is the main focus of a baptism service. But that’s not quite right. It would be wrong to say to Pia, Mary and Emma, ‘This is your show.’ Of course we need them to have a baptism at all. But as you will see in a moment the first question I will ask is not addressed to these children’s parents and God parents but to all of you. I shall say, ‘In Baptism the Lord is adding to our number those whom he is calling.’ Today the Lord is adding to our name and our story, these three children. And so I will say, “People of God, will you welcome these children and uphold them in their new life in Christ.’ And you reply, ‘With the help of God we will.’ And by saying that, you all acknowledge that you each have a part to play in the expanding of the church’s name, the adding up of the sum of the church. For it is crucial to who we are that no-one gets neglected, lost or subtracted if the name of the church is to go on growing. That is a challenge but it is also a comfort.
At times of difficulty in the church we may be tempted to feel that things are falling apart, that we face division and diminishment. And yet if we remember the name that is always growing we do not need to worry. That’s why, incidentally, church history is so important. There are some Christians perhaps who think that all that matters is their own direct line to Scripture. That can make you very vulnerable when the direct line experiences interference from personal tragedy or communal controversy and division. But again in the words of that quotation from the Ent, we might say of Christianity that, ‘It’s a lovely language, but it takes a long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.’ The story and language of the church has taken several thousand years to evolve and grow and it is still evolving. A true sense of the Christian story which these children enter today should astonish us with the range of human expression and experience that can count as Christian. In the families of these children American, Irish, Dutch and Jamaican cultures are represented. Just so, the Spirit has born witness, as Paul says, that we are brothers and sisters with Christians of every variety of race and culture, language and experience. We are all related in the Spirit and that as Paul also makes clear is crucial for the life of the whole creation. Unless as Christians we realise our true relatedness, the world remains in bondage to decay. The Spirit is impeded and stifled unless as Christians we work to strengthen our relatedness so that to these children, as they grow up, the church will feel like a strong, supportive and prophetic community – a community that offers true freedom and fulfilment to all God’s children.
Today Pia, Mary and Emma are given their Christian names; and they become part of the Church’s name, but because that name takes a long time to tell, we pray that throughout their lives they will always be involved in the telling so that name shall be called wonderful, because it is also the name of the Prince of Peace, the prince of true relatedness. Amen