These are the storied waters by which we baptize, and tonight we celebrate with our brother Ryan who has responded to the call of the Holy Spirit to come and die. To come and die to the numbing death of conformity to a culture of violence. To come and die to the wasting death of complicity with a culture of scarcity. To come and die to the corrupting death of privilege in a culture of supremacy. To come and die to the tragic death of waste in a culture of consumption and degradation. Ryan has heard the call to die to all that is killing us, and to rise with Christ, the firstborn of a new creation. So we celebrate with him, and his family, and his beloved, Rachel, and with the whole church, the rebirth of a new disciple, a new storyteller, a new artist in the commonwealth of God, the anti-empire, the reign that has no end.
Tag: baptism
Sermon: Sunday, February 22, 2015: First Sunday in Lent
Baptism is not something we undertake alone, but together, strengthening and encouraging each other as our eyes are opened to all the ways the world is killing us and embracing the alternative life God is offering, a life we see clearly in Jesus who pours out his life in a public testimony to the God of peace and justice and love.
Sermon: Wednesday, February 18, 2015: Ash Wednesday
Texts: Joel 2:1-2,12-17 + Psalm 51:1-17 + 2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:10 + Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 George Hatcher is a man in his mid-thirties who works as a NASA engineer in Florida. He is married with a two-year old, and ever since he was a young child he has wanted to live on Mars. He may just get … Continue reading Sermon: Wednesday, February 18, 2015: Ash Wednesday