Waking: Baptism and Learning to Be Beloved

August 2, 2020

Theme: Before we’ve done anything to prove it, we are covered in grace.

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17

What did you do first thing this morning when you awoke? Did you yawn and stretch? Did you greet the one lying next to you–maybe your spouse or maybe the dog? Did you think about your day ahead and all you have to do? Whatever you did I bet it is something that you do nearly every day when you wake up. Often, people get so tied up in what they do, that becomes their identity. “I am…” fill in the blank. But, there is something else first we should all remember. It may even become our first thought as we wake up in the morning.Jesus is called “beloved” by God before he’s done anything to prove himself, before he’s resisted temptation, raised Lazarus from the dead, or anything else. When we wake up in the morning without showering, smelly breath and all, we are called Beloved by God. We are baptized and washed by the Spirit, we are new creation before we’ve done anything to prove it. \“We are marked from our first waking moment by an identity that is given to us by grave: an identity that is deeper and more real than any other identity we will done that day.”

Making the Bed

August 9, 2020

Theme: The practices and habits throughout our day form us as people of God

Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

We all have daily habits and rituals –these things we do without even thinking about them. These sometimes unconscious and second nature things form us into the people we are becoming. We have “liturgies” that we enact throughout our days that reveal what we love and the people are becoming. As people of God, we also have liturgies of worship on Sunday morning. Repetitious things that we do week in and week out that form us.