Here are some items from last Sunday’s church activities:
A. The youth pastor talked about some of the places where contributions to the “mite box” go. They help bring Africans clean water. We saw a picture of what their usual water looks like, and I thought it was chili at first. The contributions also train women on how to sew so they can get jobs, as well as fund braille Bibles for blind Christians in Europe.
B. The sermon was about baptism. When we are baptized, we become connected with Christ, and we thereafter receive our nourishment and sustenance from Christ rather than the corruption of the world.
C. The Sunday school class was also about baptism. The teacher quoted Luther’s statement that baptism and the Lord’s supper are visual aids for the Word of God. Baptism is a visual picture of conversion: the old person dying and rising with Christ. Christians are baptized into Christ’s death because it was Christ’s death that brought the atonement, whereas Christ’s resurrection is Christ’s victory over the things he came to defeat (i.e., sin, death, the devil). Christ’s death was also when Christ connected with us, and we become connected with Christ in baptism.
D. There was discussion about the Greek word baptizo. In some cases in the New Testament, it refers to washing (Mark 7:4). But there are also places in which it can refer to dipping or immersing (LXX II Kings 5:14; Mark 10:38-39). Baptism entails being identified with someone or something: when the Israelites were baptized into Moses, they became identified with Moses (I Corinthians 10:2).
E. When we are baptized, we put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). The teacher likened that to wearing colors that show one belongs to a gang. We are part of the gang of Christ. And we demonstrate Christ to others, however imperfectly. We show people in our words and our lives who Christ is and what Christ wants to do for them.
F. A church member from Hong Kong shared a story. Jesus in Matthew 28 commands the disciples to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But many Christians in Hong Kong were baptized solely in the name of Jesus, and, after they arrived at a Lutheran understanding, they wondered if their baptism was valid. The teacher responded that, in his belief, the baptism is valid as long as the baptizees were sincere and believed that Jesus was part of the triune God.
G. One of the members traced her conversion to her confirmation and confession before the church. That does cause me to wonder what the baptism accomplished at infancy, if salvation came later.
A. The youth pastor talked about some of the places where contributions to the “mite box” go. They help bring Africans clean water. We saw a picture of what their usual water looks like, and I thought it was chili at first. The contributions also train women on how to sew so they can get jobs, as well as fund braille Bibles for blind Christians in Europe.
B. The sermon was about baptism. When we are baptized, we become connected with Christ, and we thereafter receive our nourishment and sustenance from Christ rather than the corruption of the world.
C. The Sunday school class was also about baptism. The teacher quoted Luther’s statement that baptism and the Lord’s supper are visual aids for the Word of God. Baptism is a visual picture of conversion: the old person dying and rising with Christ. Christians are baptized into Christ’s death because it was Christ’s death that brought the atonement, whereas Christ’s resurrection is Christ’s victory over the things he came to defeat (i.e., sin, death, the devil). Christ’s death was also when Christ connected with us, and we become connected with Christ in baptism.
D. There was discussion about the Greek word baptizo. In some cases in the New Testament, it refers to washing (Mark 7:4). But there are also places in which it can refer to dipping or immersing (LXX II Kings 5:14; Mark 10:38-39). Baptism entails being identified with someone or something: when the Israelites were baptized into Moses, they became identified with Moses (I Corinthians 10:2).
E. When we are baptized, we put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). The teacher likened that to wearing colors that show one belongs to a gang. We are part of the gang of Christ. And we demonstrate Christ to others, however imperfectly. We show people in our words and our lives who Christ is and what Christ wants to do for them.
F. A church member from Hong Kong shared a story. Jesus in Matthew 28 commands the disciples to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But many Christians in Hong Kong were baptized solely in the name of Jesus, and, after they arrived at a Lutheran understanding, they wondered if their baptism was valid. The teacher responded that, in his belief, the baptism is valid as long as the baptizees were sincere and believed that Jesus was part of the triune God.
G. One of the members traced her conversion to her confirmation and confession before the church. That does cause me to wonder what the baptism accomplished at infancy, if salvation came later.