Resurrection
Acts 9:36-42
You might have noticed in the news an interesting story involving the Roman Catholic Church in Arizona this week. A priest named Rev. Andres Arrango resigned in light of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix finding that his celebration of baptisms since he began the priesthood in 1995 were invalid. In the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), baptism is considered an enabling sacrament for all other sacraments (confirmation, communion, marriage), so this has resulted in literal thousands of people who will, according to the RCC, not only have to be baptized again the proper way, but will also have to redo the other sacraments as well. Imagine your church telling you that a priestly error has annulled your marriage!
You might be rightly scratching your head and wondering what massive mistake this priest must have made to have invalidated the baptism of thousands of people. It turns out the Rev. Arrango's choice to say "We baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit" instead of "I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit" invalidated all baptisms he has done.
A single word, well intentioned or otherwise, had a massive impact on the sacramental life of thousands of catholics. There is a dorky part of myself that finds this whole situation fascinating from a liturgical and theological standpoint. But there is an angry part of myself that doesn't find this fair to the thousands who have had their status of marriage, confirmation, or baptism revoked. If any of them die without getting baptized again, they will be denied a funeral mass from the Catholic church if the church is aware of who baptized them and that their baptism was rendered invalid. Personally and ethically, this seems wrong.
But to be fair to the RCC, their liturgical theology is clear. This exact issue was discussed and resolved by the RCC's "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" in 2020. So, on the one hand, we who are not Roman Catholic might have quite a bit of judgment to bear on what this looks like to us. But many Catholics who know the doctrines of their faith understand why the Diocese of Arizona made the choice that it did, and make a counter point: "Words matter."
I know I feel that way about the words we utter in worship. Words matter in how we attribute characteristics to God. Words matter in how we make invisible the harms done by racism and white supremacy or the struggles of physical and mental disabilities. Words matter in how we can dismiss the realities of gender and sexuality. I wholeheartedly agree that words matter!
Another word mattered, back in the 1st century in the book of Acts. A well loved disciple-a leader-a woman named Tabitha (her greek name was Dorcas) died. Tabitha was so well loved that two members of her community were sent straight to Peter in the wild hope that perhaps he could raise her from the dead since he was known to have committed other healing miracles in the name of Jesus.
"Tabitha, arise!" That word mattered too. Perhaps not in the legalistic sense or in service to any unyielding form, but in its power. "Arise!" Words have power. Some of that is definitely associated with our belief in their power, as is the case for the RCC and baptism. But words also have power because of the intent behind them and because of their effect once received. Jesus said, in the Gospel of Luke, "The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks."
This Sunday we are going to talk about the power of words, and the role they play in the work of resurrection. What we say, how we say it, what we mean, and how we act in reference to what we have said are all vital to our discipleship. Words matter. Words can wound and they can heal.
