Living Water

Today, we welcomed into the Body of Christ one month old Gray McCullough and 68-year old Roger Laviner. They became the 39th and 40th persons baptized at King of Peace Church, as the church nears its 5th anniversary. Each baptism reminds those of us who are already baptized of the promises we made or the promises made for us in our own baptisms.

The book, Living Water, which we used for a course this past year, reminds us of the importance of our baptisms:

Micki Corso...puts its this way: "Baptism is not ritual bathing; it is ritual drowning!...Why was it that people such as St. Francis could work with lepers and Mother Theresa with the lowest outcasts? It didn't matter because they were dead already! They simply had nothing to fear."

Luther said that the Christian life was nothing less than a daily baptism. Just as in any committed relationship, our relationship with God as marked in baptism, has profound and practical implications that must be lived and worked out every day.

The way to live out your baptism in daily life is connected to the five questions in the baptismal covenant:

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

The answer in the Book of Common Prayer and in our daily lives is the same, "I will, with God’s help."