Sermon: God loves the weirdos

            This morning we are celebrating! Praise the Lord, alleluia, it is a GREAT DAY here in the household of God.

            And we're celebrating because we have MUCH to celebrate!

            We have a baptism this morning - we have our sea cadets here this morning - we have our Sunday School wrap-up this morning - we are welcoming friends from the community this morning - AND it's our parish anniversary this morning.

            And there's countless other ways that we are celebrating this morning. It's a beautiful day! We are gathered to worship in freedom! We have a shared meal coming up! We all have enough clothes that no one's naked! (Or wearing camel hair)!

            Because - let's be honest - camel hair would be weird. Especially as we don't live where camels live.

            But sometimes, even in our celebrations - daily, annually, or once in a lifetime - weirdness can creep in. And I think that's okay.

            Let's consider the John we've moulded our anniversary around. John the baptiser. John of the wilderness. Good old JB, who was, in a word: weird. John was WEIRD. But we celebrate him - and we celebrate his weirdness.

            Because we know that his weirdness was of God - even from where and how he was named! And we know that he used his weirdness FOR God; coming out of the desert to stand in the waters of the Jordan and baptise people, preaching forgiveness of sins, and generally delighting in the abundant mercies and blessings of this life that so many took for granted.

            We celebrate the weirdness of John as a way to remind ourselves, too, that God's grace is being lavished upon us, flowing more freely than water, immersing us in the glory of God.

            Oh, my friends, there is MUCH to celebrate.

            And when we celebrate, it means we are coming together. We are choosing to be a community - from a variety of places, with a variety of experiences, with a variety of opinions, and with a variety of gifts.

            These gifts came from God, and we are constantly being invited to use them. And the best part is, we have already agreed to do just that. In our own baptism, and every time we renew our baptismal vows (which, by the way, is often). We have promised a number of things to God about how we will treat God, and how we will treat each other.

            Our baptismal vows challenge us to action. Baptism is not a passive act, it's a revolutionary act that should inspire how we go out there into God's world with God's people to embrace God's mission.

            So this doesn't just mean finding the people that we like, or the folks that we agree with - that means seeking out the Christ in everyone - the neighbour that annoys us and the grandmother we adore. It means respecting the dignity of all - the clerk who sold us coffee or the doctor who saved our life. It means seeking justice for everyone - even when it's awkward - and taking action. It's not enough for us to despise the notion of children in concentration camps in the southern US, we also have to look inwardly to our own systems of immigration and Child and Family Services. Because I assure you - they can all improve - and it's going to take some brave, determined, weird people to make things better.

            And making things better will be an act of faith. It will be taking what we say we believe and risking in order to make God's dream for peace and justice a reality.       Because THAT is what we promise in our baptism. THAT is what we declare when we recite the creed. THAT is what we mean when we invite people in to the household of God: it's not simply an invitation to a Sunday morning service, it's celebrating BEING the church and empowering our weirdness to embrace the world with love.

            Love is the answer. Love is the right thing to do. Love is what God hopes we will use our gifts for. Love is what God challenges us to see in one another.

It is this love - this perfect, unconditional, unchanging love - that we celebrate today. A love so pure that it enfolds us every moment, in every circumstance, with every opportunity. Love is what brings us to baptism. Love is what carries us into the world. And love is what will bring the kingdom ever closer.

            So yes: it's a bit weird, but that doesn't mean it's not right.

            Love: Love God, love your neighbour. Love your enemies, love the stranger. Love the orphan, love the widow, love the immigrant. Love those who proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. Love those who you want to love, love those who you don't. Love.

            In this day and age, when culture and society try to pit us against one another, the courage to love and persevere in love is weird. It may not be walking-around-wearing-camel-hair weird, but it IS counter-cultural, and community-minded, and unselfish, and - weird.

            So that's our choice: today, and every day. We can exist in the status quo, or we can live fully, and love.

            I hope that you will choose love: that you will extend love, that you will embrace love, that you will receive love when it's offered. And always remember: God loves the weird - God's the one that gave you that weirdness in the first place, and God gave you a community in which to celebrate your weirdness. So be inspired by it, find new ways to live it, and go out in the world and just love: and celebrate that you - with all your God-given weirdness - are a member of the household of God.