Sunday 30th July 2023

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

One of the earliest memories of my great-grandmother was seeing her in her bedroom, in a small bungalow in North Yorkshire, on her hands and knees (well into her 80’s at this point) head under her dressing table, stuffing something beneath the carpet.

‘Tell your mum one day,’ she said, ‘that there is treasure here.’

Money, I believe, is what she was carefully storing under her carpet, out of the way. Terrifyingly hoarding her treasure so that no one, not even my parents when she died, could find it. No safe deposit or investing it somewhere to be lucrative.

She was so scared that someone might come and take it away, she hid her precious things under moth eaten carpets and rotten floorboards.

Our Gospel reading this morning speaks a lot about treasure, about the hidden things, the secret things. It calls these short stories ‘parables’ – stories with meaning. Stories that if we look closely enough and listen hard enough, we will find the treasure. Stories that, in the midst of the Festival of Storytelling here at the Cathedral, is a real treat.

See, Jesus told these stories all the time, stories of growth, stories of life, stories of treasure.

Treasure that can neither perish or spoil or fade.

It is a picture of the kingdom of heaven. The place where God is King.

The place where the tiny mustard seed flourishes into life and becomes the greatest of trees.

 It is a place of growth.

The place where the yeast mixed into the flour allows the bread to rise.

It is a place of abundance.

The place where the treasure hidden in a field is found.

It is a place of joy.

The place where the pearl is sold for a great price.

It is a place of generosity.

The place where fish of every kind are caught.

It is a place of fulfilment.

This morning we welcome and celebrate the baptism of Bertie.

Bertie is treasure.

Bertie is a treasured member of Pompey Tots, our group that meets every week and gathers babies and pre-schoolers and their grown-ups in St Thomas’ chapel to worship, to sing, to pray and to play.

Every week we inevitably sing a firm favourite for everyone…

‘He’s got the whole world in his hands

He’s got the whole world in his hands

He’s got the whole world in his hands

He’s got the whole world in his hands’

We then sing the verses..

… he’s got the little tiny babies, in his hands

And there are all sorts of other wild and wonderful verses that we have made up along the way…

… he’s got the sunshine and the flowers, in his hands

… he’s got the roots and the shoots.. (that was a new one!)

And you can make verses for all sorts of occasions, just like this one..

… he’s got Bertie and his family, in his hands

            … he’s got the whole world in his hands.

And on and on it goes.

Treasure.

When we sing it, I look out into our gathered congregation at Pompey Tots of the young and not so young worshipping together,

…of the little hands and tiny fingers circling the world in the air and cradling it in their arms, … of the amazing volunteers who give their afternoons to make cups of tea for frazzled caregivers singing with their eyes closed in delight,

… of the mother from Brazil who sings this song in Portuguese to her child,

it brings tears to my eyes.

This is treasure. This is the kingdom of God.

Bertie is a gift. Bertie is treasure. And his parents have treasured him from conception to this day, from the ups and downs of such tender and early years, from the anguish of long hospital stays and sleepless nights … today they offer him, their lovable rogue to the God of love in baptism.

In baptism he will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.

In baptism he is called out of darkness into the marvellous light

In baptism he encouraged to fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ

A baptism into which each one of us has been called into too.

Welcomed, called, encouraged into the kingdom of heaven.

Where treasure, both the new and the old, find their home.

We don’t have to go looking under the mouldy floorboards or beneath the perishing carpet for it.

We can find God’s treasure in his children, in their delight at the world, in and through their baptism. And our baptism too.

And we pray that Bertie will continually find the treasure day by day, and that we will too.

God’s treasure is his children.

We are God’s treasure.

And there is always more treasure to be discovered.