To Be Purified

I John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 

just and will forgive us our sins and purify

us from all unrighteousness.

Baptism

This week our church secretary sent out an e-mail to congregation members to let us know there is a young boy who is getting baptized tomorrow. To Christians, baptism is a very big deal, a very happy big deal. At our church, if we know about it ahead of time, we do something special.

First of all, there are men in our congregation who make these beautiful baptismal chests.

Isn't that pretty? I know they try to keep ahead of the demand as it would be rather tough to whip one of these beauties out at the last moment. I don't know how long this has been the tradition in this congregation, but I think it is really special.

The rest of us bring gifts, then, to place in the chest. When we arrive at church tomorrow one of these chests will be right up front. As people arrive we will see some of them going up front to deposit a gift for the young boy who is getting baptized.  At the end of the service he and his family may gather around the chest for photographs, marking the special occasion. When they go home tomorrow, the chest and gifts go with them. Won't that be a special reminder to him, perhaps a lifelong reminder, of the day he was baptized?

Baptism is done many different ways within Christian Churches. Some of the differences are based on traditions. For example, giving this baptismal chest and gifts is a tradition within our congregation. It isn't something we've read about in the Bible; it is just something we do to celebrate a joyful event. Some of the differences are based on varying theological understandings of Biblical accounts of baptism.  This accounts for such differences as sprinkling versus immersion and infant versus someone old enough to make the decision for themselves.  Mike and I spent hours and hours discussing these differences, even when we were dating, as we come from different denominational backgrounds. 

Most Christians agree, though, that baptism is very important and very special. I've heard baptism compared to adoption. People have said that the day you are baptized is the day you are adopted into God's family, the day you become a Child of God. It isn't quite that simple, I suppose, given that we believe everything, including ourselves, belongs to God in the first place. However, I think it is a fairly good way to explain baptism to someone who is new to Christianity.

I am not a theologian. Although raised in the church, I have never attended a Bible College or Seminary. I do have a theologian in residence as my husband has both a Bible College and Seminary degree. As I write this post, he is sitting right here in the same room with me, easily accessible. However, I am recklessly tackling this subject without his help. As far as he knows, I am furiously typing out cute granddaughter stories. So, if you landed here by googling "baptism" and were hoping for some deep theological insights, you may be disappointed.  I can tell you a few things, though.

Baptism is done in obedience to God's Word. That is to say, the Bible tells us we should do this so we do.  

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19 (NIV) 

That is one of the verses that tells us to do it. To be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (we'll talk about the Trinity another day) is a command. We who are disciples of Christ, meaning His followers, want to do this out of obedience. We don't do it in secret, either. We want others to know that we are His followers.

“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11 (NIV) 

Baptism is also a washing away of our sin. Do people sin even after they are baptized? Yes, of course. With our human understanding of time you may think we are to be baptized over and over again, each time we sin. Nope. As children of God we are able to repent and claim this forgiveness of sin over and over and over. I would think that must get so tedious for God, but his love for us is big enough to handle it.

Baptism points to the fact that we are to die to ourselves. Our will is no longer paramount. It is so hard to remember and to live this way, but Christians really do want God's will to be what matters, not our own. We love our Lord and he loves us. HIS love is so pure, so complete, we are overwhelmed by it. Dying to ourselves is not a sad thing, it is a great thing. This next verse means a lot to me.  

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”Galatians 2:20 (NIV)  

My firm belief is that as a baptized child of God, I have Christ living within me. What could be better than that? This is a great heritage to claim!

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Redeemed

Definition of REDEEM (From Merriam Webster)

1

a : to buy back : repurchase

b : to get or win back

2

: to free from what distresses or harms: as

a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom

b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental

c : to release from blame or debt : clear

d : to free from the consequences of sin

3

: to change for the better : reform

4

: repair, restore

Redeemed

(click title to hear song)

from the album Love Come To Life

Big Daddy Weave

 image courtesy of bejim at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Seems like all I could see was the struggle

Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past

Bound up in shackles of all my failures

Wondering how long is this gonna last

Then You look at this prisoner and say to me 

“Son, stop fighting a fight that's already been won”

(Chorus)

I am redeemed

You set me free

So I'll shake off theses heavy chains

And wipe away every stain 

Now I'm not who I used to be

I am redeemed

I am redeemed

All my life I have been called unworthy

Named by the voice of my shame and regret

But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”

I remember oh God, You're not done with me yet

Chorus

I don't have to be 

The old man inside of me

'Cause his day is long dead and gone

Because I've got a new name

A new life I'm not the same

And a hope that will carry me home

From Pastor Mike - The Freeing Word

 The following is a sermon Mike wrote based on Mark 7:24-37.  So, in my husband's words...

The first time I saw Rich he was sitting next to a window overlooking downtown St. Paul.  Rich was a patient at the Ramsey County Hospital Psychiatric Ward.  He was 23 years old.  He had a severe case of acne and he had a slight quiver to his movements.

Rich was an addict.  He told me he chain smoked cigarettes, drank 3 pots of coffee a day, smoked marijuana when he could and drank alcohol to excess.

Rich came to the hospital when someone became concerned about his behavior. He said he wasn't doing anything bu the cops threw him down, handcuffed him and took him to the hospital.

Rich told me, "I didn't have any problems until I started drinking. I drank my first beer when I was 12 years old and I immediately knew that I had a problem with alcohol."

Rich said he suffered from schizophrenia.  He said, "It isn't good when I start drinking heavily.  Sometimes I hear voices from cars or radios.  Sometimes I wake up and wonder if I just dreamed something or if it really happened."

When I talked to Rich, I realized he was a man imprisoned. Sure, he was in a psychiatric ward with bars and locked doors, but his prison seemed deeper that that. He was a prisoner looking to be free from addiction and mental illness.

In our gospel reading for today Jesus encounters two people in prison, a woman who had a child with an unclean spirit and a man who was deaf with a speech impediment. In both cases, Jesus speaks a freeing word and people ARE set free.

The demon or unclean spirit was cast out and in the deaf man's silent world he could suddenly hear the sound of his own voice. The actions of Jesus reflected the words of Isaiah 35. The eyes see, the ears hear and the lame leap, the speechless sing for joy.

The healing ministry of Jesus was like Jesus going to a prison, opening the lock on the door and speaking the words, "You may go now.  You are free!"

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus traveled back to his home town, went to the synagogue, opened the scriptures and read from Isaiah that he has come "to bring release to the captives."

As humans we can become imprisoned by so many things, some of our own making, some we don't understand, some we have inherited from ancestors or from birth and sometimes it is others who imprison us with their actions.

As for Rich who was in the psychiatric hospital in St. Paul, I prayed for him be he didn't become immediately healed.  I talked with the chaplain on that floor. He said we are not Jesus but prayer is a good thing.  He encouraged me to keep praying for people.  He said he has seen many people become better through prayer, talk therapy and medicine.  He told me not to give up hope in Jesus who speaks the freeing word.

Sin is another power that can enslave us. We say that sometimes in our confession.. "We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves."

At the  beginning of every worship service I appreciate the time of confessing and forgiveness.  It is a time to be set free so we can turn our focus to the worship of God and to be strengthened by God for our journey through this life.

Jesus died on a cross to set us free from the power of sin.  I like the word REDEMPTION. It's a word that is sometimes used in the Bible to speak of slaves being set free for a price, through the death of Jesus. We are set free. We are no longer in sin's power. The door is opened. We have received God's forgiveness.

Martin Luther often felt deep remorse for his sinfulness. He felt like he deserved to die by the gallows, run through by a sword or burned at the stake for his sinfulness. He knew he had offended God with his sin but as he read the Bible he knew God didn't want him imprisoned by sin but rather set free by Christ. He wrote, "This is wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves. I am justified and acceptable to God although there are within me sin and unrighteousness. Yet I must look elsewhere (to Christ) and see no sin. This is wonderful not to see what I see, not to feel what I feel. Before my eyes I used to see a gallows or a sword or a fire. But now, through Christ, I can say there is no gallows, no sword, or fire. This is what the forgiveness of sins is like."

I believe the ministry of "the freeing word" is something that Jesus passed on to the church. Jesus told his disciples, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them..." And so we make confession and forgiveness and Holy Communion key components of our worship services.

And all of us, as Christians, have many opportunities to speak freeing words to one another, like...
"I forgive you."
"I'm sorry."
"I love you."
"Peace be with you." The sharing of the peace is more than a handshake and a phrase. It's a time for us to say, "I hold nothing against you. I want God's peace in your life."

It's so easy to be negative with someone, to hold a grudge, to keep people down when you've got them down. But we set ourselves free when we are able to speak a freeing word to others.

Finally, I want you to hear a word from a former teacher, Gerhard Forde. He asked our seminary class, "Now that Christ has set you free, what are you going to do?"

The ways we live out our lives before God is to serve in and beyond the congregation. Now that Christ has set you free, what are you going to do? We need ushers, readers, greeters, communion servers, fellowship servers, teachers, helping at the rescue mission, serving comfort food and so on.

Are you already serving on or beyond the congregation? Well, take somebody with you.  Be a mentor. Be a teacher, a discipler. The book of James reminds us that the works we do are a response to the faith we have.

Hear and do the word.

You are free!

Go.

Serve the Lord this week.


Mark 7:24-37 RSV

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. 25 But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoeni'cian by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." 30 And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decap'olis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Eph'phatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

Confession and Forgiveness

Following is part of the most humbling yet meaningful parts of our church service.

Confession and Forgiveness

Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, 

all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: 

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts 

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, 

that we may perfectly love you and 

worthily magnify your holy name, through 

Jesus Christ our Lord....

Most merciful God,

We confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.  We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, 

by what we have done and 

by what we have left undone.  

We have not loved you with our whole heart; 

we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.  Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, 

so that we may delight in your will 

and walk in your ways, 

to the glory of your holy name.  Amen.

 In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was 

given to die for us, and for his sake 

God forgives us all our sins.  

Challenging God

 In one of the readings from The Essential Jesus we were reading some history of the Israelites, particularly the time when Moses was leading them after they'd escaped captivity.  Do you know those stories?  Those stories used to always make me think those people sure did complain a lot.  It seemed to me that after God rescued them from slavery, they'd be so grateful they'd never again complain. 


I am finally starting to understand that we are all that way.  I wonder if I ever have a day that I don't complain about something.  I may complain that it is too cold, too warm, I'm too busy, I gain weight too easily, I don't have someone else's talent, and on and on.  I don't think of myself as a big complainer but it turns out that maybe I am.


The author went on to say that the main offense of the Israelites wasn't really that they complained so much, but that in doing so they were challenging God.  I was surprised to ponder the author's statement that the heart of all sin is challenging God.


I'm going to be thinking on that today.  What do you think of that?  Is "challenging God" the heart of all sin?  Do we sin because we think maybe we know better than God?  Is complaining a sin?   


Our society doesn't really even like to talk about sin.  Even the word, sin, is not used much in our world today.  It is not trendy.  It is not cool.  Maybe we should try to bring it back, use it more, think about it more.


Anyway, I was just pondering this today and wondered what you thought.  Are we challenging God when we sin?  Do we have a right to challenge God?  Any deep thoughts?  Any shallow thoughts?