Rev Michael Docherty's sermon 14-03-2004

It's a simple gesture - we step out of Woodlands Road and enter the church: we dip our hands into the holy water stoop and make the sign of the cross: we've all probably done it since childhood - parents lifting their child up so they can reach. It's a gesture that is so familiar to us that we probably haven't given it a second thought - just something we Catholics do, part of our identity, part of who we are: yet in reality it is a gesture full of meaning, full of significance because it is about who we are and what we are about. It is a gesture which illustrates the message of the readings for this particular Sunday in Lent.

By making the sign of the cross we renew our covenant with God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the same God who manifested Himself to Moses - who revealed His Holy Name in order to deliver the captive Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. Like them we are a people of the covenant and we renew the covenant we made in baptism - where like in a marriage, we took vows, we pledged ourselves to another, we assumed a new identity. Even if our parents made those promises for us, by our own action, our own will we now make than promise, that decision for ourselves - we touch water to our forehead, our heart, our shoulders and sign ourselves by the Holy Name - the name in which we were baptised - a name for all time, a name to be invoked for generations to come.

In that action is the acceptance of all baptism stands for: an acceptance of the Creed, of the good news, the gospel, the beliefs that we the Church hold. In that action is repentance - a rejection of Satan along with all his pomps, all his works. In that action is a response, a promise to turn away from sin and to be faithful to the gospel. By that action we place ourselves under that promise, under oath and as we enter the heavenly court we place ourselves, our reputation our future on the line - we enter this holy place to testify, to bear witness to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

In renewing the sacrament of Baptism - we renew our obligation to live up to the rights and responsibilities of the new covenant: to love God with all out heart, all our mind, all our soul and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. These are the standards by which we shall be judged guilty or innocent, the standard by which we are judged to be more guilty than others, whether we are that fig tree that needs to be pruned or given another year in which to bear fruit. In the action of the sign of the cross we renew our pledge, our willingness to turn away from sin, to be faithful to the gospel in order that we may bear fruit, fruit that will last.

We touch water to our forehead, heart and shoulders: we make the oath - then we seal it - we say 'Amen': we confirm that we are willing to accept the task, to accept the challenge, to make that personal commitment to the responsibilities we have as children of the new covenant, as children of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We promise, we commit ourselves to the vow, the oath we have made - hoping that it will be fulfilled in us - that we do not remain passive spectators but willing participants in the mysteries about to unfold in this sacred space, on this holy ground where the new covenant is renewed, a covenant which Christ himself renews, and we journey from the slavery of sin to the new Jerusalem - the promised land of our mothers and fathers.

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