Baptized--We Live in the Hope of Resurrection

Week 5 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 30: Tuesday March 23

Theme for the Week: Holy Baptism--Baptized We Live

Passage for the Day: Romans 6:5-6

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

Reflection:

Yesterday we looked at the first part of this passage and reflected on what it means to be baptized into Jesus’ death with my old sinful self drowning in the waters of baptism, allowing a new person to rise out of the water. Today I would like to spend a little time thinking about what it means to be “united with Christ in a resurrection like his.” This is the ultimate promise of baptism. In baptism, not only am I freed from sins in my life while I am here on earth. But I am also promised a new resurrected life following my death. I often read these words at Memorial Services or Funerals. In these settings the power of these words is so comforting. We know that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. We have the eye witness accounts of the many people who saw him. And we have Jesus’ promise that in baptism we are united with him and will share with him in the joys of resurrection. As a baptized person, I do not have to fear death. I can rely on Jesus’ promise, conveyed to us by St. Paul, that I will be united with him in a resurrection like his. Thanks be to God!

Prayer Themes:

Thank God for the power of resurrection. Pray that I might not fear death, but will be able to rely on Jesus’ promise of resurrection. Pray for all those who are facing death, and for those who sit and watch with them, that this promise might comfort them.

Baptized--We are Made New

Week 5 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 29: Monday March 22

Theme for the Week: Holy Baptism--Baptized We Live

Passage for the Day: Romans 6:3-4

³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Reflection:

This is a tough passage because many of us find it difficult to associate baptism and death. How many people who are bringing their infants for baptism want to hear about death? It may be a little bit easier to think about baptism as implying the death of our old sinful selves. Martin Luther refers to this as the death of the “old Adam or old Eve” in us. When I am baptized in Jesus’ name, my old self is drowned in the water, just as Christ was killed on the cross. My old self is the part of me that just finds it so easy to do the wrong things—the part of me that walks away from God and the part of me that keeps slipping into behavior that hurts the people around me. Following baptism, a new person rises from the waters of baptism. In other words, with baptism I are made new, and I leave all that sinful stuff behind. The old sinful person, figuratively, is peeled off of me and I am all new, shiny and sin-free. However, because I am human, it is easy for me to slip into doing the wrongs things again. But not to worry, because baptism is for life, once I have been baptized, each day, I again can figuratively leave all the junk behind me in the waters of baptism and each day I am again made new in Jesus.

Prayer Themes:

Thank God for the cleansing action of the waters of baptism. Thank God that I have been freed from the power of sin in baptism. Thank God that each day, I am again made new. Pray for all who are preparing for that plunge into baptismal waters and pray that their new persons will rise from the waters of baptism.

Baptized--We are Forgiven

Week 5 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 28: Saturday March 20

Theme for the Week: Holy Baptism--Baptized We Live

Passage for the Day: Acts 2:38

³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Reflection:

Be baptized in the name of Christ and your sins will be forgiven. What a gift! In addition to all the other benefits of baptism—becoming a child of God and becoming a disciple, as well as a part of the Christian community, my sins will be forgiven also. And it that is not enough, I will also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit-the advocate and counselor. What a gift and blessing baptism is. Thanks be to God!

Prayer Themes:

Thank God for the forgiveness of sins that is given to me in baptism. Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pray that others will hear the call to be baptized in the name of Christ.

Baptism--Making Disciples

Week 5 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 27: Friday March 19

Theme for the Week: Holy Baptism--Baptized We Live

Passage for the Day: Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Reflection:

In this passage, Jesus connects the devotion and learning of discipleship with the concrete action of baptism. Jesus’ remaining eleven disciples are to make new disciples, new followers/learners through the act of baptizing them. They are to be brought into the fold of disciples by an action which is both symbolic and transforming. And this is to be not just any baptism, but a baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even 2000 years later, Jesus’ command is still being followed. Babies, children and adults still become disciples of Christ and members of the Christian Church through baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In my baptism as infant, my parents and godparents promised to raise me in a way that I would know Christ and to teach me how to be a disciple of Christ, which includes following Christ’s commands to serve and to love, and participating in the strength-giving fellowship of the Christian community. If you are baptized as an adult, you make those promises for yourself. With baptism, I enter into the Christian community, and the Christian community promises to help me grow as a disciple. I promise to act as Christ’s hands in the world. I am also sealed by the Holy Spirit as a Christian, and marked with the cross of Christ forever. And in this baptism, Christ claims me as his own—promising to be with me forever. My baptism will last forever!!

Prayer Themes:

Thank God for the gift of baptism that lasts forever. Pray that I might be strengthened as a disciple of Christ, and that I might be able to help other Christians grow in discipleship. Pray for all those considering baptism, preparing for baptism and those who are newly baptized.