New Life in Christ

On Saturday September 25th, we baptized an adult man, a five-year-old girl, a baby boy, and a baby girl. Baptism is the start of a new life. In some ways, life is pretty much the same...you look the same the next day, there are the same activities, there are the same challenges as the day before. Sure in a week or two, an adult who is baptized might start doing something new with his or her church because of the commitment he or she has made. A baby is probably going to be doing the same things as the previous week. In the case of every person who is baptized, their lives have changed for ever. They are living a new life in Christ. Christ is living in them, we say. They have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own forever. God always loved them and cared for them. Through baptism, we are able to enter into the life of God in a new way. A visible sign of that new life is one's membership in the church, the Body of Christ. Once the water has dried, we need to be reminded of the awesome change that has occurred. As a family of faith, we nurture each other; we are on this journey deeper and deeper into the life of Christ together.

Sermon preview: The Wrong Kind of People

Growing up, many people are cautioned about hanging out with certain kinds of people, the wrong kind of people: people who look different, act different, live in a different part of town, have more, or have less than they did. Jesus was judged for eating with the wrong kind of people: the sinners and the tax collectors. The Pharisees had the facts right...Jesus did eat with the wrong people according to their culture. But what the Pharisees did not understand was the grace of God being reveal through the words and actions of Jesus. God searches for everyone. God will not give up on anyone...even people we might think of as a lost cause or a terrible person. The lesson we have in this week's Gospel, Luke 15:1-10, is really for those who consider themselves to be better than others and therefore remove themselves from the fullness of God's grace.

Sermon preview: The Wrong Kind of People

Growing up, many people are cautioned about hanging out with certain kinds of people, the wrong kind of people: people who look different, act different, live in a different part of town, have more, or have less than they did. Jesus was judged for eating with the wrong kind of people: the sinners and the tax collectors. The Pharisees had the facts right...Jesus did eat with the wrong people according to their culture. But what the Pharisees did not understand was the grace of God being reveal through the words and actions of Jesus. God searches for everyone. God will not give up on anyone...even people we might think of as a lost cause or a terrible person. The lesson we have in this week's Gospel, Luke 15:1-10, is really for those who consider themselves to be better than others and therefore remove themselves from the fullness of God's grace.