2 Timothy 2.8-15; Luke 17.11-19

I wonder whether any of you know the story “The Runaway Bunny”, written by Margaret Wise Brown and first published in 1942.

It goes like this:
“Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”

“If you run away,” said his mother. “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”

“If you run after me, “said the little bunny, “I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.”

“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, “I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny, “I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”

“If you become a rock on the mountain, high above me” said his mother, “I will be a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are.”

“If you become a mountain climber,” said the little bunny, “I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.”

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,” said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”

“If you become a gardener and find me,” said the little bunny, “I will be a bird and fly away from you.”

“If you become a bird and fly away from me,” said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”

“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny, “I will become a little sailboat and I will sail away from you.”

“If you become a little sailboat and sail away from me,” Said his mother, “I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go.”

“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny, “I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”

“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother, “I will be a tightrope walker and will walk across the air to you.”

“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,” said the bunny, “I will become a little boy and run into a house.”

“If you become a little boy and run into a house” said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you.”

“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I must just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.”

And so he did.
“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

There are some verses in Psalm 139 that remind me very much of this story. They say this “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

“If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is
as light to you.”

What a wonderful message - that wherever we go, God is with us; whatever we do, God will remain.

Oliver and Jake will do well, if they grow up with this message at the heart of their lives. Their parents have so far done a good job during their short lives in caring from them physically. But today, they are making a statement about how they wish to care for their children spiritually as well.

God doesn’t wait until we are old enough to understand before he starts loving us. God’s love extends to Jake and Oliver, to their families and to all of us. In our reading this morning from the letter to Timothy, we heard these words: “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure with him, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”

None of us can live as somebody we’re not. We may want to be someone else with someone else’s gifts but we’re not. Each of us is unique, and created that way by God. But nor can God live as someone other than God. God’s very nature is love and faithfulness, so even if we are faithless, God remains faithful.

God doesn’t want Jake or Oliver to pass a particular exam before they have a place in his family; all he wants them to do is recognise his love and care, and know that wherever they go, that love goes with them.

We all have a part to play in helping Oliver and Jake come to know God’s love for themselves. Their parents and godparents have a key role in doing this, but the rest of us too in a moment will pledge ourselves to welcoming them and upholding them in their new life in Christ. As part of God’s family, we all have a responsibility for these two boys whom we are baptising and welcoming today.

At the end of our service, we will give them lighted candles as a sign of Christ’s light. It is particularly appropriate that we do this at the end of the service just before we go back out into the world to our daily lives, because it offers us a reminder that God is not confined within a church building but that as we leave this place today, God goes with us, and is, in fact, already where we shall be.

Thanks be to God. Amen.