March 18, 2015
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism!
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in and through the Water
connected with Word in Holy Baptism, You lifted each of us up and cleansed us
from our sin. Remind us not of that
which bound us, but of You Who set us free to be the people of God. For Your promise in Holy Baptism with the
pouring of Water and connected to the Word offer us life and salvation and
entrance into Your Kingdom. And this
offer is made because of Your great love for each and every one of us. AMEN.
In seminary, my fellow classmates had t-shirts made that
contained a simple saying, “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism!” Encapsulated in this saying, not only was a
confession, but a belief in God. Tonight
we like my classmates encounter a bead that is a reminder of God’s epic promise
to each and every one of us. With the blue
bead on the Salvation Bracelet, we can understand it stands for the promises
from God to and for each of us in our Baptism.
When we were brought forward and the Water and Word of Holy
Baptism were spoken and poured over our head, God made a promise to each of us
of what He would do. It was not a
promise to take us to Disneyland, to go for an Ice Cream Cone at the Vault or
Dairy Queen, or even to prevent us from ‘skinning our knee’ as we grew up. God made the promise to offer us life and
salvation through the simple yet profound connection of simple water, with the
Word of God.
With our baptism in the font, like this one, or another or
even in a river, pond or even cattle watering trough. God made each of us the promise of eternal
life and salvation that is connected with God’s Gift of Grace and Forgiveness
found in Jesus Christ. When we became
wet, God sealed for each of us a reality that Jesus Christ fulfilled on the
Cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ Who came
and lived among us, walked the landscape of Israel and Egypt, healed the sick,
fed the poor and proclaimed release of the captives, is connected to each and
every one of us here tonight. Our
connection is not just with a font, it is with our having the Cross made upon
our brow on Ash Wednesday, sealed in the Blood of the Lamb of God that we
receive in Holy Communion and even when we wear a simple Salvation Bracelet.
The bracelet we wear is the beacon of the promises of God
that are fulfilled for each of us. The
Blue Bead that symbolizes both the Water and the Word in Holy Baptism are meant
for us to be a reminder of what God has done and continues to do for each of us
each and every day. It is a reminder for
each of us of our Holy Baptism and God’s promise for us. It is a reminder of God’s willingness of His
Son, Jesus Christ to become something for us. Not just our friend but a bearer of our
burden, our sin.
Tim Challies, wrote an article entitled “How to Become a
Burden-Bearer for Others”. In the
article Tim states, “To be a burden-bearer is a great ministry.” But for we who gather here tonight, this is a
ministry we are unable to fulfill if left to our own devices. Yet, God through our baptism has grafted us
into and we become the burden that Jesus Christ carries and bears on the Cross
of Calvary as the perfect sacrifice for each of us. And when we wear our Salvation Bracelet, we
point, not to ourselves, but to what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary
for each and every one of us.
We point to Jesus Christ offer of life and salvation for
each and every one of us. We point to
and remember how the Water intimately connected with the Word offer us eternal
life, because of God’s great love for each and every one of us in Holy Baptism. Tonight we gather to remember a simple blue
bead as a reminder of God’s gift for each and every one of us in the font of
the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ for all of mankind. And the blue bead in the salvation bracelet
reminds us that our Holy Baptism is an offer by Jesus Christ not for a select
few, but is for and includes each and every one of us gathered here at Emmanuel
who remember our baptism through this simple blue bead. And the offer of salvation for each and every
one of us, because of His love for all of mankind, including each and every one
of us who remember our baptism with the blue bead of the salvation bracelet. AMEN.
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