Reflections on "Feeling Like Job" Job 42: 1-6; Romans 8: 26-28

Headed to camp this afternoon, so I just have time to add a comment or two before going home to pack.

Job text is much more nuanced and complicated than how I used it in this sermon.  I think the sermon was accurate to God, but not quite as true to the Job text.  

The same could probably be said about the Romans text.

“Grab Bag:  Feeling Like Job”  July 21, 2013; Grab bag series; Job 42: 1-6; Romans 8: 26-28

Introduction:  TV show Motive – police drama;  begins at the end and then goes back to the beginning to explain how the ending was reached.

This sermon is beginning at the end, and then we will go back and see how we get to the end.

Move 1:  Begin at the end with a powerful faith statement: 

a.      Final words

1.       Job –  42:2 “I know that you (that is God) can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

2.      Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:28) “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God…”

b.      To see how we get to those final words, let’s go back to the beginning.

1.      In Job’s case, the beginning takes us back to his suffering.

2.      He experienced loss in every part of his life.

3.      The text is clear that he has done nothing wrong. In fact, from the storyteller’s perspective, it appears that Job is caught up in some type of challenge that Satan, or perhaps a better translation, “the accuser” has put before God.

4.      Regardless of why, Job is in misery with his life falling apart before him, and he has done nothing wrong.

c.      Or consider the Romans to whom Paul writes.

1.      We do not the exact circumstance Paul might have been referring to in his letter, but we know that Paul is trying to explain to these new Christians what it means to believe in a sovereign God. 

2.      To believe that God is alive and in the midst of their circumstances, even when they are difficult circumstances.

d.      What is your beginning?

1.       The sermon grew out of someone sharing their story of going through a difficult time in life.

2.       I suspect most of us can point to a difficult time in our own life.

3.      Battling with a difficult, perhaps even debilitating illness.

4.      Going through an unexpected job loss.

5.      dealing with grief.

6.      Struggling to find friends who build you up, instead of tear you down.

7.      Dealing with again.

8.      Or just an overwhelming time in life.

9.      Most of us can find a beginning to this sermon from our own lives.

Move 2:  how do we get from the beginning, the crisis in which we find ourselves, to the end, the strong faith statement?

a.      Not very easily, and probably not a direct path!

1.      None of us will travel the same path, although our paths may be similar.

2. Probably not the same order of stops along the way, but many of the same stops.

b.      Sometimes we try to find someone or something to blame.

1.  If we read Job’s story, part of his problem I think is that he has no one to blame, and he refuses to allow others to blame him (rightfully so, according to the story).

2.  Ultimately, blaming fails because even if we can discover who or what is actually to blame, it does not remove us from the pain and loss that we are feeling.

3. Sic Flags – death of woman falling from roller coaster; they will figure out what happened, but even when her family knows who or what to blame, it does not bring her back to life.

4.  We can direct our anger and at times it feels good, but the blame game generally only provides temporary relief.  It does not lead directly to the ending we want.

b. We might stop along the way at questioning God or getting mad at God

            1.   Through the years, I have often shared with people that it’s ok to get mad at God or question God.  It’s even biblical.

2.  Job certainly works this angle.

            3. And Job’s not the only one.  The biblical text is full of people who get mad at God.  People who say, “God, I don’t like what you’re doing;” or “God, where are you?” or “God, I’m running away because I don’t want to be dealing with you anymore.”

            4.  I feel certain that God can handle it.

            5.  In my mind, getting angry or asking questions of God is not a sign of a lack of faith, but the sign of a faithful person trying to figure out how to affirm God’s presence in the midst of the crisis.

c. Or we might stop at the nearby stop that is closely related to questioning or getting angry is crying out to God.

            1.  We often hear of how the Psalmist cries out to God.

            2. The Israelites are in captivity and they cry out to God, begging God to remember them.

            3. Jesus from the cross cries out to God.

            4. Paul references being in such a state that we need the Spirit to intercede for us.  The person praying only being able to groan.

5.  Crying out is the desperate plea of the person who has discovered that God is their only hope.

e.       We often find the stop along the way where we turn to your friends.

1.      That move is full of potential pitfalls.

2.      In the midst of Job’s crisis, his friends arrive to help comfort him.

3.      It turns out they tell him a lot of things that he will not accept, and we discover that God will not accept either.

4.  Sometimes I hear people say things to other people in the midst of crises that make me cringe.  Sometimes I say things that make me cringe.

5.  I find that being told that "God needed a tenor or soprano for the choir in heaven” (or something similar) for example.

5.  But, I recognize the need people have to offer words of comfort and to find comfort in the face of challenging circumstances.

                                    6. And I have seen and felt, not necessarily from the words, but from the person being there, comfort from others.

f. another stop -- we can turn away from God.

1.  Person decides that God is not there and they are done with God.

2. Their story ends before it gets to the faith statement.

g.  Another stop -- Cling to faith.

1.  I am reminded of a story I was told about a woman who was suffering daily, but when asked how she dealt with all the misery noted that her time was not spent being miserable because she had conversations with Jesus all day long.    

2.  In other words, her time of misery (as defined by others) did not seem miserable to her because of her faith and opportunity to grow in relationship with Jesus.

Lots of things we can do between crisis and the faith statement that comes at the end of the story.

Move 3: Only get to the end of the story, the faith statement after we look back over what has happened.

a.      Job can only tell this story after it has happened.

1.      We do our best theology from our rear view mirror.

2.        (which takes me back to the country western song "Texas in My Rear View Mirror," which I will not sing as part of the sermon!).  Song describes the person so ready to leave, but then as he looks back recognizes lots of good things that happened.

2.  Paul can only write his words that “all things work together for good”  after he sees what God has done.

3. Job cannot proclaim God’s sovereignty until he looks back over what has been happening in his life.

b. we look back over what has happened and we lay claim to our faith.

1. We see God’s grace.

2. We recognize the comfort.

3.      I have often heard people comment on how they grew in faith or what God did for them in the midst of a crisis.

4.      Not an affirmation that God intentionally sent bad things their way; an affirmation that God is at work in the midst of crises leading us to new opportunities and understandings.

5.      . I can confirm that again and again I have seen people's faith strengthened in the face of crisis, which seems counter-intuitive to me.  

6.      In fact, it is a theological statement about the incarnation, about God coming in flesh to live among us and be with us in the midst of our crises.

7.      There is comfort in Job’s faith, but that comfort can only be heard after the anguish and anger have been expressed.

Conclusion:  We are now back to where the story ends:

Hearing Job proclaim about God:  Job –  42:2 “I know that you (that is God) can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Hearing Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:28) “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God…”

A fitting end, wouldn’t you say?

"Grab Bag: Feeling Like Job" Job 42: 1-6

This sermon grows out of a story I was told by a member about a person who was suffering daily, but when asked how she dealt with all the misery noted that her time was not spent being miserable because she had conversations with Jesus all day long.    In other words, her time of misery (as defined by others) did not seem miserable to her because of her faith and opportunity to grow in relationship with Jesus.

This, of course, is a question that comes to mind in a variety of ways for most of us.  Consider the following examples:

    1.  Sometimes I hear people say things to other people in the midst of crises that make me cringe.  For me, being told that "God needed a drama professor in heaven," (or something similar) for example, offered very little comfort in the face of my father's death.  I also am not sure I can or want to buy into that theology. But, I recognize the need people have to offer words of comfort and to find comfort in the face of challenging circumstances.

   2.  I have often heard people say, "I now know why God made me go through... (fill in the blank with whatever crisis they had dealt with in the past)."  Those comments make me wonder about what kind of God would intentionally cause a crisis in someone's life to teach them a lesson. But, I also want to affirm the God who is at work in the midst of crises leading us to new opportunities and understandings.

   3.  Of course, not too far away from these thoughts is the eternal question - "Uh, God, why did you let (fill in the blank) happen to me or my loved one?"

   4.  I can confirm that again and again I have seen people's faith strengthened in the face of crisis, which seems counter-intuitive to me.  Yet as one who proclaims the incarnation of God means that God finds us even in the midst of our crises, why should I be surprised?

I have been drawn to Job as I have reflected on this passage.  Job seems to touch on all feelings of helpless, desire for faithfulness, inability to grasp God full, and much more.  Interestingly, when I preached my first sermon before a congregation after starting seminary (I had preached once at the church I attended in college on a College Sunday), I chose Job as the text.  I tried to find a copy of the sermon in my files, but (probably mercifully) could not find it.  As I recall, I found great joy in proclaiming Job's discovery that since Job did not create the world like God did, Job was happily content to let God be God and Job be Job.  I must be less agreeable now because that answer does not seem to satisfy.  Or at least it only satisfies with lots of protest.

But I find Job's example instructive in lots of ways:

  1.  Job can only tell his story after the fact with its theological implications after the fact.  In the midst of his crisis, he can call out to God, he can shout and scream, he can grasp at what comforts him, but only later can he look back and see God in his midst.  I often note that we do our best theology in our rear-view mirror (which takes me back to the country western song "Texas in My Rear View Mirror," which I will not sing as part of the sermon!).

  2.  Job has friends that come by to support him -- they don't say the right things, but they are there for him.

   3.  The idea that Job's troubles are part of a game between God and the devil is a bit troubling.  Not sure the biblical writers got that right.

    4.  There is comfort in God's answer to Job (were you there when I created the world...); but that comfort can  only be heard after the anguish and anger have been expressed.

We also read Paul's letter to the Romans in which Paul notes that "all things work together for good." To me, that suggests that God is at work in all things working to redeem and heal us as we move through life; it does not mean that God has deemed the crisis confronting us as good.

Obviously, I have lots of work to do for this sermon!

Reflections on "Grab bag: Between Birth and Baptism" Luke 2: 39-52; Romans 1: 1-4

I had fun reading through the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas."  I had not done that in several years, and probably not really studied it since college!  Through the years, I have continued to give thanks for Dr. William Walker, my New Testament professor at Trinity University.  The text books he used and the methodical way he taught the NT have been very helpful.  If I could go back and take one class in college that I did not take, it would have been his class on the Apostle Paul.

Speaking of Paul, I had intended on making a clearer connection between the Romans passage and the sermon.  I think Paul's words remind us that we tell stories about Christ in the context of his resurrection.  I did not make that point explicit in the sermon.

I added the Lillian Daniels story about the young boy who noted that they were telling the same story the second year of the Christmas pageant.  That was a good add to the sermon and would have helped the Chapel sermon.  More could have been made of the repetition of stories we tell about Jesus.

I also added a line in the Sanctuary service about Jesus being baptized as an adult after someone in the Chapel asking if Jesus was baptized as an infant.

“Between Birth and Baptism” July 14, 2013; Grab bag series; Luke 2: 39-52; Romans 1: 1-4

Introduction:  you now know all the content that will be on the Bible content exam on what we know abut Jesus’ childhood.  You ought to ace the exam.

One story. 

After Jesus is presented in the temple until he is baptized as an adult as he begins his ministry, there is one story about Jesus in the biblical texts.

One story.  The one we just read in Luke.

The good news -- if you don't know much about Jesus’ childhood, you haven't forgotten it because it's not there.

The bad news -- there is a whole segment of Jesus' life about which we know very little.

No wonder one of you asked the question:  "What do we know about Jesus in his growing up years?"  The answer – “not much.”  End of sermon.

Well, not really!

Move 1:  why do we tell stories from childhood? 

            a. You know those stories.

1.      I just spent a week in TX with my family and Leslie’s family.

2.      Lots of stories told. Now, the kids are telling the stories they have heard their parents tell.

3.      I would say that the stories get better over time, but that may or may not be true!

4.      In Luke, we get a “parents leaving kids behind” story.  I bet most of your families have a story or two like that.

5.      Just last week as we were sitting in my brother’s TV room, his wife begins telling stories about how my father used to leave my brother behind.  I listened to the places he’s been left and finally had to say, “I can top all of those.”  My father left me sitting in a grocery cart.  In the parking lot as he drove home.  Thank goodness for the person who wheeled me back inside the store until my my mother asked my father where I was!”

b. Typically, the childhood stories we tell and tell again are fun and they teach us. 

1.  Back to the story we read in Luke.  It actually does not seem that funny, but maybe it got funnier as it was told over time.

2.  Parents leaving a child behind can have a little humor tied to it.

3. But the story reveals something about Jesus when he tells his parents, “I must be in my Father’s house”

4.  Like the stories told about the child who argued with everyone about everything and then one day ends up being a lawyer who gets paid to argue cases.  Those childhood stories that get repeated will become the “aha” stories about how everyone should have known the child would become a lawyer.

5.  I imagine years after Jesus’ death and resurrection when the family got together, they would tell this story from the Temple and nod their heads. 

6. Of course Jesus told his parents, “I must be in my father’s house” (or “I must be about my father’s interests” in other translations).

7. His ministry in later years, the stories that we do have of Jesus, reveal that he was about his father’s interests.

Maybe later Jesus’ family laughed about leaving him in Jerusalem and smiled knowingly at his answer.

Move 2:  the lack of stories of Jesus’ childhood, however, reveals our own struggles, and the struggles of those who put together the gospels, to  understand what it means that Jesus is the Son of God.

                        a. Hard to be funny about Jesus.

                                    1.  I personally think we often miss Jesus’ humor.

                                    2.  If we approached many of the stories Jesus tells or situations in which he finds himself as if there was a chance they would be funny, I suspect we could make the case that Jesus had a pretty good sense of humor.

                                    3. Laughing Jesus – maybe you’ve seen some of those pictures.  Hasn’t really caught on (although there is is a web-site or two). 

4. we can handle an image of Jesus loving, but Jesus laughing?

5. Cuts down on the need for funny stories of his childhood.

b. We are also not sure what to make of Jesus – fully human, fully god.

1 What childhood stories could be told that help explain that?

2.       Biblical texts, but there were other stories told about Jesus' childhood.

2. Stories told that were not accepted by the early church nor made part of the biblical canon.

3. Several of these stories are found in what is known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.  (The Other Gospels:  Non-Canonical Gospel Texts, Ron Cameron, editor, 122-130) 

4.  A kid is running down the street and bumps into Jesus, which makes Jesus mad, so he strikes him dead.  That didn’t make the Bible. 

5.  A story where Jesus is playing upstairs and one of the other kids falls out the window to his death.  Everyone accuses Jesus of having pushed him (sounds like a typical who did what story from childhood, except it is life and death).  Jesus finally gets tired of the accusations and calls the boy back to life and asks him to tell everyone that Jesus did not push him.

3. Or a story told about when Jesus was six years old he drops the pitcher of water he is bringing to his mother, so he miraculously fills his garment with water and takes it to his mother.  That didn’t make the Bible either.

4. Let’s be clear – I am not saying that these are true stories about Jesus’ childhood that were left out of the Bible; they were stories told about Jesus that were determined to not be true.

                        4.  As an author writing about the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas” notes, “The biographic legends of Jesus, at school and at ply, display nothing distinctively Christian at all:  Jesus is portrayed simply as a child of the gods, a Wunderkind in whose life are manifested epiphanies of the divine.  Ironically, the descriptions of the precocious glee of the infant Jesus both hint at his humanity and detract from it as well.  These stories adumbrate the tyranny of the miracle tradition. . (123).

d.  How do you tell stories about Jesus’ childhood that somehow explain how he was fully human, yet also fully God? 

The answer – you probably don’t. 

Move 3:  The childhood stories cannot explain who Jesus is and what God is doing.

a. Consequently, the childhood stories give way to the stories of his birth and his death and resurrection.

                        1.  Somewhere along the way I suspect they decided that these stories are the ones who define the most important things we need to know about Jesus.

                        2. Lillian Daniel in her book When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Enough tells the story of an unchurched family that joined the church. The first Christmas, their young son was in the pageant.  The next year, he showed up for the first rehearsal and when he hears the story he says, “Oh not, not that same story again!”  She notes that now he has young children and that familiar story has shaped his growing up and his life now in ways he never could have imagined. 

            b. The biblical scholar N.T. Wright reminds us that that "Christianity is about something that happened.  Something that happened to Jesus of Nazareth.  Something that happened through Jesus of Nazareth.  In other words, Christianity is not about a new moral teaching... Christianity isn't about Jesus offering a wonderful moral example...nor is Christianity about Jesus offering, demonstrating, or even accomplishing a new route by which people can “go to heaven when they die... Finally Christianity isn't about giving the world fresh teaching about God himself....Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this – the finding , the saving, the giving of new life – in Jesus.  He has done it." Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (92). .

1.      So we tell stories that about what happened and what happened, what God did in Christ to transform the world.

3.       In other words, what Jesus did at six years old may not matter that much -- the fact that God came in flesh does.

4.      Most of what Jesus did as a teenager, may not matter – the fact that Jesus died a sinless death on the cross and was raised from the dead matter.

5.      As those who are invited to pass down the stories about Jesus that reveal God’s great love for us and God’s desire to save and redeem us, what stories do you tell.

6.      Or what stories about Jesus can reveal the God who is even now alive and in at work in our midst?

Conclusion:  I read this week that the Gospel stories add up to about 1 year’s worth of activities from Jesus’ three years of ministry.  That means that on average 2 out of 3 days of what Jesus was doing as an adult went unrecorded (Craig Barnes,  5/20/13, Christian Century, “Faith Matter:  Holy Small Talk).

A bit better percentage that the childhood stories, but still a lot about Jesus’ life is unknown.

But we know that which gives us life – we know the stories of the God who comes in flesh to live among us, the God who dies in the person of Jesus Christ to save us, the God who raised Christ from the dead to give us hope.  The God who is alive even now.  Amen.

"Grab bag: Between Birth and Baptism" Luke 2: 39-52; Romans 1: 1-4

The question behind this sermon is:  "What do we know about Jesus in his growing up years?"

The good news -- if you don't know much, you haven't forgotten it because it's not there.  The bad news -- there is a whole segment of Jesus' life about which we know very little.

With the exception of Jesus being presented in the Temple and then traveling there with his parents (both stories found in the Gospel of Luke), we have no other stories of Jesus' childhood.  Unless of course, you want to read through some of the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas" (The Other Gospels:  Non-Canonical Gospel Texts, Ron Cameron, editor, 122-130) that tells stories of Jesus as a child; gospels that were not accepted by the early church nor made part of the biblical canon (if you read them, you can figure out why they were left out of the canon).

"Christianity is about something that happened.  Something that happened to Jesus of Nazareth.  Something that happened through Jesus of Nazareth.  In other words, Christianity is not about a new moral teaching... Christianity isn't about Jesus offering a wonderful moral example...nor is Christianity about Jesus offering, demonstrating, or even accomplishing a new route by which people can “go to heaven when they die... Finally Christianity isn't about giving the world fresh teaching about God himself....Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this – the finding , the saving, the giving of new life – in Jesus.  He has done it." Simply Christian, N. T. Wright (92).

What do you think Jesus was up between his birth and his baptism in the Jordan River? Do you care?

"Grab Bag: Me and You, Noah" Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

I liked this sermon, although I stumbled a couple of times in its delivery in the Sanctuary.  The transition to the baptism point might have been a bit forced since I was trying to make a connection to baptism.  I liked the way it played off of the week before, both in content and tone.   The final illustration from Archie Bunker was abbreviated in the actual preaching of the sermon. 

“Me and You, Noah”  June 30, 2013; Grab bag series Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

Move 1: The lightning and thunder come and go, but the rain never stops.  We awaken in the morning to rain and go to sleep at night with the rain still coming from the heavens.  Will it ever stop? A sense of hopelessness pervades the ark. Where is God? 

The rain has stopped, but water surrounds us in every direction.  We actually saw the sun peeking through the clouds.  Now the people and the animals are getting even more stir crazy.  They want off the boat, but there is no dry land to be found.  The optimism brought by the ray of sunshine gives way to a new sense of hopelessness that we are stuck in the ark with no place to dock. Where is God?

Ten months have passed and we can finally see the tops of the mountains.  Can we survive until we can leave the ark? Where is God?

A dove goes out to find dry land.  A sense of hope tentatively emerges.  The dove returns.  No dry land.  The nightmare continues.  No longer looking for God, because God has surely forsaken us.

The earth has dried.  God sends us out onto the dry land to be fruitful and multiply.  After surviving the ark, anything seems possible.  God has saved us.

a.      Make no mistake – the story of Noah’s ark is one of devastation and hopelessness.

1.      You have seen the photos from Hurricane Katrina.

2.       You have read the accounts of people racing to the highest point possible only to have the flood waters rise to them and beyond.

3.      The flood destroyed creation as humans knew it. 

b.      and there is no one to blame but themselves.

1.      their sinfulness had brought about this devastation.

2.      Imagine how bad it must have been for God to want to destroy the very world God created.

3.      Actually, we can easily imagine it – just look at the world around us with the wars, the violence, and the unfaithfulness.

4.      I suspect the pre-flood world in Genesis was no worse than what we know now.

move 2:  But in the midst of the devastation, God remembers Noah, and his family, and all of creation.

a.      Last week we heard Bill Cosby’s comedy routine where he envisions what Noah might say to God.

1.      As the rains begin, Noah is in midst of his long litany of complaints.

2.      But as he hears the thunder and the rain, he cries out, "me and you, Lord, right?"

b.       Now we hear God in the face of the devastating flooding crying out, "Right! Me and you, Noah."

1.      “I remember you.”

2.      “I will save you.”

3.      In fact, God spreads a rainbow across the heavens to announce that God will always remember God’s people.

4.      No matter what we do, God will remember us and offer us the hope of salvation, instead of the utter devastation.

5.      As Walter Brueggemann notes, "the gospel of this God is that he remembers. the only thing the waters of chaos and death do not cut through (though they cut through everything else) is the commitment of God to creation Brueggemann,Interpretation: Genesis, 85.

6.      God remembers.

Move 3:  We find refuge in the God who remembers

            a.  Isaiah passage

1.              The Israelites are in exile.  They are a defeated people banished to a foreign land.

2.              Not forty days of flooding, but generations of exile.

3.              They wonder where God is. They cry out for help.

4.              And the prophet Isaiah reminds them – the God who remembered Noah, will remember you.

5.              They can dare to hope for a future.

b. Our hope today is in the God who remembers.

1.            In a war-torn world where our prayers for peace seem to go unanswered, we can dare to hope in the God who remembers us.

2.            In our lives of broken relationships, we can dare to hope for healing and wholeness because God remembers us.

3.            In a world where we battle addictions and struggle with our inner demons, we can dare to hope because God remembers us.

4.            In a world where tragedy and death arrive unexpectedly, we can dare to hope because God remembers us.

Move 4:  Baptism

           

                        a.  In our theology, the sacrament of baptism builds on the images of water and covenant.

1.  We baptize even infants because God claims us as part of the covenant in the waters of baptism, even if we do not know much about God.

2.  God’s covenant does not depend on us, but on God’s love and promise.

b. This week I was reminded of an old Archie Bunker TV show that revolved around baptism. 

For those of you who do not remember Archie Bunker, he was an old, somewhat bigoted white guy, whose daughter had married a liberal atheist.

After returning from church one Sunday afternoon, Archie’s wife Edith's recount of the service prompts Archie to ask when their grandson, Joey, will finally be baptized. It turns out Joey will not be baptized because his dad does not believe in God.

Laughing him off, Mike and Gloria leave. Archie then tries to persuade Edith to assist him in having Joey baptized at Edith's church, on the sly. Edith will not consider such a thing, however, and Archie goes as far as to try to trick her into taking a walk in the park, with the intention of stopping by the church on the way. In the midst of their argument, the telephone rings, and Edith tries to give directions to their house for a clothing pick-up to the driver on the other end. While Edith is in the midst of her explanation, Archie takes advantage of her distraction and grabs an old sweater from the charitable donation pile, and also Joey, who is sleeping on the porch in his baby carriage. By the time Edith makes the discovery that they have left, it's too late.

Once at the church, Archie is dismayed to find out that the Reverend Felcher is not available to perform the baptism, but rather the ethnic Reverend Chong. After a series of politically incorrect gaffes on Archie's part, Reverend Chong assures Archie that he is perfectly capable of giving Joey a Christian baptism, but that he (Reverend Chong) is beginning to sense that Joey's parents are against the idea. After lying to the minister initially, Archie finally offers him a bribe, which the minister refuses.


Daunted once again in his efforts, Archie stops the stroller on his way out beside a station of holy water, before leaving the church. He proceeds to pray, opening a dialogue to God with the line, "A. Bunker here" and asking God not to forsake Joey just because "his old man's a dopey atheist." Archie then lifts Joey from the stroller and sprinkles water on his head, adding, "I hope that took Lord, 'cause they're gonna kill me when I get home." http://www.tv.com/shows/all-in-the-family/joeys-baptism-38238/recap/

Conclusion:  Archie’s theology of baptism may not stand up to our Presbyterian theological standards, but he did understand that his hope, and his grandson’s hope, rest in the the ?God who remembers us, the God who claims us, the God who saves us.  Amen.