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I must confess my distress when, from time to time, good folk in the congregation suggest that we baptize too often in morning worship. After all, it's the same thing over and over again, it makes the service too long, and can't we lump them all together on one Sunday, Pastor? How sad that one of the central acts of the church is seen as a chore and a bore.
Martin Luther reminds us that baptism is no work which we do, but a treasure which God gives us and of which faith lays hold. The servant in Isaiah is able to do the works of which he speaks only because he received first the anointing of God's Spirit. And Jesus went from his baptism into the wilderness to ponder the treasure which was laid upon him. Convinced that it was God's doing and not his own, he went to Nazareth and spoke the same words as Isaiah's servant, "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me ... the Lord has anointed me ..."
Baptism is no passive ritual we watch. It is an active inpouring of God's spirit, not only on the newly baptized, but also on us all. So, after our last baptism I invited the congregation to read our Scripture in unison: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me...," and concluded with the words, "Go now, and live your baptism!"
-- Lincoln
I must confess my distress when, from time to time, good folk in the congregation suggest that we baptize too often in morning worship. After all, it's the same thing over and over again, it makes the service too long, and can't we lump them all together on one Sunday, Pastor? How sad that one of the central acts of the church is seen as a chore and a bore.
Martin Luther reminds us that baptism is no work which we do, but a treasure which God gives us and of which faith lays hold. The servant in Isaiah is able to do the works of which he speaks only because he received first the anointing of God's Spirit. And Jesus went from his baptism into the wilderness to ponder the treasure which was laid upon him. Convinced that it was God's doing and not his own, he went to Nazareth and spoke the same words as Isaiah's servant, "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me ... the Lord has anointed me ..."
Baptism is no passive ritual we watch. It is an active inpouring of God's spirit, not only on the newly baptized, but also on us all. So, after our last baptism I invited the congregation to read our Scripture in unison: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me...," and concluded with the words, "Go now, and live your baptism!"
-- Lincoln
