Ask the Pastor
by the Rev. Dr. Marcia Cox
Question: Phone call… "Will
you do a baptism for me today?"
Answer: Is it an emergency?
Question: Well, yes…kind of…I need to get baptized to
save a relationship.
Answer: Your partner is making baptism a contingency on a relationship?
Have you had this conversation with him?
Question: Well, yes….sort of…He keeps telling me I need
to be baptized.
Answer: How about the 2 of you coming to meet with me after
worship on Sunday? Baptism is a public celebration; a witness to your
acknowledgment
of the presence of Christ in your life. It also is the entrance into
a community…which is pretty difficult to do in private. Finally,
it is a time of making promises:
Do you renounce the devil and all those empty promises? (That’s
not an elf with a pitchfork seen at Halloween but rather all those
seductions of our appetites for material wealth, status symbols, needing
to be liked by everyone…those are all empty promises.) Will you
come to worship to hear God’s word for you and share the Lord’s
Supper? Will you learn and pray the Lord’s Prayer? Will you read
the Bible? Will you live among God’s faithful people? (that means,
participate in a community of faith)
Will you proclaim (be) the good news of God in Christ through word
and deed? Will you serve others? Will you strive for peace and justice?
Question: I thought all you did was pour water on me and
say a few words.
I repeat the contents of this phone conversation for a couple of reasons.
- This is a reminder of what we promised when we joined this congregation
(through baptism or affirmation of baptism.). We need reminding
of this because as we discuss what it means to be a community, we
talk
about money, attendance figures, committee structure; we have not
brought up the fact that we promised God and this congregation that
we would
participate. Theologically, we are not volunteers…we are
called to serve as surely as Mary, Elizabeth, Peter, Paul, Jonah,
Miriam,
etc. at a specific time and in a specific place.
- WE promised; we did
not do this because someone else wanted us to. (If they did want
us to and we did it to please someone else, then
it is time to grow up and own the promise as a maturing human being.)
- Please do not use this sacrament as a bargaining chip for anything.
God doesn’t play that dirty…don’t you.
This Lent would be a good time to meditate on those promises we made…or
someone made for us. How are we doing in our life of faith …and/or…our
lives of faith together at Augustana?
Dear God, we ask you to bless these little breads. Each time we eat
them may we be reminded of your gift of salvation through Jesus Christ,
our Savior. Keep your loving arms around Augustana and help us to grow
together this year. Amen.
Next
Article - The Augustanan Home
|
|
