Baptism: “a once and future thing”
After my son Benjamin was baptized on Sunday, this sermon by David Davis had special resonance as I listened to it yesterday:
Baptism, it is a once and future thing. The water dries, but everything else stays forever. The Forgiveness. The Holy Spirit. The seal of God’s love. The sign of the kingdom. Being cradled by grace. The washing. The naming. The sending. Your baptism, it is a once and future thing. So with drops of water from the river of grace still rolling down the back of your necks, and the Holy Spirit still falling so fresh, and eyes of your heart being overwhelmed again by God’s love, hear the very voice of God deep saying “Go and tell. Go and live, so I can use you”.
This summer I’ve been dwelling with what it means to Remember Your Baptism. I developed this daily prayer, as an elaboration on Martin Luther’s morning refrain of “Today I will live out my baptism”:
In my baptism, God put his covenant mark on me as one of his own,
called me to a lifetime of dying and rising with Christ,
adopted me into his church,
and began in me the work of renewal through the Holy Spirit.Today I will live out my baptism.
Next entry: Report from a visit with United Methodist youth planning worship
Previous entry: Report from National Worship Leader Conference