In Holy Baptism
our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us
to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are born children of a fallen humanity;
by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God
and made members of the church, the body of Christ.
Living with Christ and in the communion of saints,
we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship p. 27.
“Christ is risen!” proclaims the pastor on Easter morning.
“He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” responds the congregation.
But…what does this mean? What does Jesus’ resurrection mean for us? Equally important, what does resurrection mean for this congregation?
The church’s teaching on baptism points to an answer. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the truly human and truly divine One, God identified with humanity. In Jesus, God joined God’s very self to our brokenness, our sinfulness, and our death. Christ’s identification with suffering humanity led to Good Friday and the cross. When Jesus died—he died our death.
When Jesus rose on Easter morning, he lived our resurrection. Baptism is the sign of this resurrection. Through baptism God joins us to the death and resurrection of Jesus. God frees us from sin and death.
We don’t have to wait until our physical deaths, however, to know resurrection. With the future assured, this means our resurrected life begins now.
A resurrected life can acknowledge the pain of its past—including its sins, its failure to love God and the neighbor—yet not get stuck in guilt and shame, but move forward in hope.
A resurrected life is confidently rooted in the love of God, trusting that “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”
A resurrected life is free. Free to love. Free to take risks. Free to fail. Free to experiment. Free to learn. Free to grow. Free to ask for help. Free to ask for forgiveness. Free to claim a fresh start every day.
As human beings we will never get things right 100 percent of the time. Resurrection assures us that life is not about perfection but growth.
I trust that this is reassuring for us as individuals. I also trust that this is reassuring to us as a community of faith. For baptism also applies to the church. Baptism creates the church. Baptism makes us Christ’s body in the world, living his resurrected life in the communion of saints.
The church’s resurrected life is one that can acknowledge its past, including its brokenness and its conflicts, its failures to love God and its neighbors, yet not get stuck in this past, but move forward in hope.
The church’s resurrected life is confidently rooted in God’s love, giving it the ability to share this love with the world.
The church’s resurrected life is one of freedom for the sake of the gospel. It is a community that knows the freedom of taking risks, of failing, of asking for help, and of asking for forgiveness. The church is free to reinvent itself for the sake of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ for each new generation.
The church is a human community. It will never get things right 100 percent of the time. But as it lives Christ’s life in the world, it will discover that resurrection is not about perfection but growth in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.
My prayer for Holy Trinity, as it calls a new pastor, is that it will live more deeply into the promise of its resurrected life.
“Christ is risen!” proclaims the pastor on Easter morning.
And the congregation responds, “He is risen indeed! And so are we! Alleluia!”
Blessings,
Pastor Margrethe