Good morning everyone:
Do you know where it is? Is it in a dresser drawer, a box on the top shelf of a closet, a scrap book? Or did it completely disappear years ago? I’m thinking of your baptismal certificate. Of course, far more essential to your soul’s wellbeing than the certificate is your baptism itself. However, the certificate is something worth holding onto and looking at regularly as a reminder of God’s priceless blessings received in the sacrament.
The certificate has your name and birth date on it. This belongs to you alone. But it also has another name, the name above all names, that of the one true God. The certificate affirms an act of God’s love shown to you personally. You were “baptized” in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the water and Word the Savior God called you individually, you who were dead in sin and His enemy, into His kingdom. He wanted you as His own and to one day live with Him in heavenly glory.
In baptism the Holy Spirit entered your heart, planted faith in Jesus there, and gave you forgiveness, peace, and eternal life! Peter puts it so simply and beautifully: “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21).
Whether it took place last year or 80 years ago, your baptism mattered. It still does! Why not find that certificate and take another look?
Tomorrow is our Baptism Sunday. In the sermon text (Titus 3:3-7) St. Paul writes of the spiritual rescue mission God has successfully accomplished for each of us in the sacrament.
Remember, there is only one service tomorrow, at 9:30 a.m.
The Junior Choir will rehearse at 9:10 a.m.
The public school confirmation class meets at 10:45 a.m.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
