A Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness…
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ @Emmaus -
It’s the morning of December 20th and I find myself in my study, meditating on Christ’s Baptism [January 13]. As I am doing so, someone contacts me with a struggle that is permeating her life. What the particular struggle is, is unimportant here - it’s a struggle. We all have them. We all can empathize.
This person shared a song that was helping her, that spoke to her in her pain and suffering. This song asked GOD to keep her head above water, to keep her from drowning.
This instantly brought to mind this picture.
I’ve shown it to you before and it has been the subject of a homily a couple of years ago. This wonderfully rendered image of Christ reaching down [through the waters of Baptism, mind you] to pluck us out from beneath the waters and bring us to safety is the perfect image of GOD saving us from drowning!
But we must be drowned first. St. Paul tells us this when he writes…
3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6.3-4
Our old selves must die…
6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin. Romans 6.6-7
Now beneath those waters, it seems desperate, it’s frightening, we can’t breathe, we scratch and claw for the surface, to inhale that sweet, pure air that is lost to us below.
That is when Christ reaches down to pull us out of the drowning waters of Baptism, He snatches us up from the storms' swells of our lives and He saves us…
8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Romans 6.8
This is how we weather the storms throughout our lives. Through our Baptism we are united with Christ and given His Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit sustains us and keeps us in Him. What a wonderful Father in Heaven we have! He takes care of us throughout our lives and brings us safely into the harbor of Heaven, by way of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
It is a privilege to be your pastor.
‘Living Out Christ-Centered Lives’ -
Pastor Ray
“Behold! The Lamb of GOD Who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1.29
Absolutely true. We do have such a loving Father in Heaven.
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