Today we will remember our dead, then we will baptize our new brother, Hylan, into the Body of Christ. We get used to that kind of thing, but we shouldn’t. Because it marks us as — strange. At least it should mark us as strange. What a strange bunch we are to express the world view we are going to express this morning.

I saw a world view expressed on TV this week. The Today Show did a piece about a haunted house run by the Jaycees in Florida. A spokesperson for the Jaycees explained that the highlight of the attraction was a room in which one could view Osama bin Laden in jail. Then a man wearing an FBI tee shirt comes in and drags bin Laden into the adjoining room. The spectators, of course, hurry in to watch what happens next. What does happen next is that bin Laden is strapped into an electric chair, a switch is thrown, and there is a mock execution, complete with convulsions and screaming.

"The response has been tremendous," the spokesperson said. "They cheer. They sing, ‘God Bless America.’ They shout, ‘Kill him again.’ It’s been a great response," she said (without even a hint of irony).

Matt Lauer asked, "When you were planning this, didn’t anyone bring up that this might, well, not be in good taste?" "Oh," said the perky young woman. "We toned it down a lot. Originally we were going to have three terrorists in the cell and allow the crowd to vote on which one would be executed. But we decided to stick to Osama bin Laden since he is someone the American people can . . ." — she struggled to find the right word. I knew she was reaching for "recognize, but then, in a marvelous Freudian slip, she found the wrong word, or maybe the right word: "We decided to stick to Osama bin Laden since he is someone the American people can resemble," she said. Standing alone in my house I said out loud: "She said, ‘He’s someone the American people can resemble.’" I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

That haunted house represents the world view of much of our country. I’m sure that most of the Jaycees and the people enjoying the attraction and shouting for them to "Kill him again" identify themselves as Christians. And that haunted house represents a world view that a lot of Christians share. But I want to submit to you that it is not a Christian world view. It’s just not strange enough, difficult enough, to be the view given by our strange and difficult Lord.

Our Lord who says strange, difficult things like, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and exclude you, revile you, defame you for my sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.

"And woe to the rich, the full, those laughing now, those spoken well of now."

What an odd God Jesus presents us with. A God who loves the poor and the abused and warns of consequences to those whom we all admire.

And then it gets odder, stranger, more difficult still as Jesus tells us how to deal with enemies. We know how to do that: "Kill him again!" But Jesus presents an entirely different world view:

He says his followers are not to reciprocate the behavior of those who hurt them: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." What kind of a strange world view says don’t mirror the behavior or the hatred of those who hurt you and hate you?

Then he turns to those who love us. Loving them isn’t so hard, he says. "Don’t even sinners do the same?" he asks. Then, oddly, he starts talking about commerce: "If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?" I think that’s a metaphor for something else strange, and difficult: Loving the people who love us, but not for the love we get back, not for the "interest." Well, there goes about ninety percent of the way I usually love those who love me. Strangely enough, Jesus is telling us to love those who love us the same way we love those who hate us — with no expectation of a reward.

Today Hylan has chosen to become one of us, a member of a body of people, the Body of Christ, who strive not to hate in response to hatred, not to love to get love back, a body of people who believe that our behavior and relationships are motivated simply by the God we worship.

But that is strange and difficult. Because, in a way that will never be portrayed in that haunted house in Florida, God is something of a scandal. You see, Jesus tells us that God is "kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." And Hylan, you are called to be scandalous as well, to "be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," to join us as we affirm our baptismal covenant to pray together, to resist evil together, to witness together, to serve Christ in all persons together, to strive for justice and peace together and to respect the dignity of every human being together.

It is a strange, difficult life, constantly out of step with the culture of the haunted house, the hateful desire for vengeance which makes us resemble that which we hate. And it is too hard to do alone. It is way too hard to do alone. I believe it is virtually impossible to do alone. But you are not alone. Christ will be with you. And Christ’s body will be with you in several ways. We here today represent Christ’s Body, and we have made the promise to one another and we will make the promise to you that we will to do all in our power to support you in your life in Christ.

But Jesus tells us another strange thing, that physical death is only a temporary separation. And so the communion of saints, that wonderful "cloud of witnesses" that "compasses us about" and which is here represented by this island of light*, will also be with you.

It is a hard life, a strange and difficult world view. But we welcome you with great excitement. Because for all it’s hardship and strangeness and difficulty, we know that we are greatly, hugely, incomprehensibly, blessed.

Welcome, my brother.