Baptism. You ever wonder why we celebrate baptism in the church?
As you can imagine there are a lot of ways to answer that question, including Jesus said to do it. But let me give you a reason that’s connected to our current series, Moving Forward.
In this series we’ve been exploring forgiveness, especially the things that stand in the way and block us from the freedom God offers us through forgiveness. We’ve talked about anger and fear. These things that can keep us from forgiving someone else.
This Sunday we are concluding the series with maybe the most difficult part of forgiveness which is seeking and receiving forgiveness when we are the ones who failed or made a mistake. We will talk about one of the most common questions I get around forgiveness, “how can I forgive myself?”
But what does all of this have to do with baptism?
If you are anything like me, when I make a commitment to forgive someone, to work through my anger or push past my fear, or when I decide I need to seek out forgiveness, I need a way to mark it. If it stays in my head or in my heart then it’s hard to really know if it’s true for my life. We need something to do. Some way to respond. Some way to make this promise of forgiveness and the clean start feel real.
That response is baptism. Baptism is a marker of forgiveness and cleansing. It’s a chance for a fresh start and an opportunity to do it all over again. It’s a chance to receive God’s forgiveness in a fresh and powerful way.
And if you’ve been baptized before, sometimes we need to remember God’s forgiveness in our lives in a tangible way. For some of us, life has taken a lot of twists and turns. And we need a reminder and to refocus our life on Christ. Others of us need to remember God’s forgiveness in our life so we can commit to overcoming some of that fear and anger that keeps us from forgiving someone else.
This Sunday we are not only concluding our sermon series on forgiveness but we are having a special baptism service, so we have a tangible way to respond.
If you’ve never been baptized before, you will have a chance to be baptized. And if you have questions about baptism or know you want to be baptized this weekend, please reach out to me. You can simply respond to this email.
If you’ve been baptized and want to remember your baptism, you’ll have a chance to do that too. We will have baptism pools at all of our worship services. You can choose to get sprinkled with water or you can get in the pool. I recommend the pool option because it’s a powerful experience of being washed clean and receiving God’s forgiveness and strength.
Whether you are getting baptized for the first time, remembering your baptism or just decide to watch, you are not going to want to miss this powerful service. I hope to see you this Sunday as we celebrate the power of God’s forgiveness and freedom in our lives.
Peace,
Matt Fulmer
Pastor, Good Shepherd UMC
