Redeemer Lutheran Church

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Christian life is a life lived in Christ, through the Church, and under the cross. It is not a path of personal achievement or isolated spirituality, but one of daily grace – given, received, and shared. In Holy Baptism, God gathers His people into His family, in the Lord’s Supper, they are fed with the body and blood of Christ; and through His Word, He sustains them unto life everlasting. All of this is His doing. And in response, the Christian lives in faith toward God and in fervent love toward neighbor.

At our recent LCC Convention we were given a little booklet of meditations called “Life in the Body of Christ”. This booklet was written by Rev. Mark Smith who is Lutheran Church Canada’s Director of International Missions. I believe it is a very helpful series and in the coming weeks I would like to share it with you. Each devotion explores one aspect of life in the Church, from the Lord’s Supper to daily vocation, from prayer to discipleship, from the mystery of the Divine Service to the gift of the pastoral office. These meditations are not intended as academic essays or emotional reflections, but as pastoral encouragements for real people living real lives anchored in Word and Sacrament, clothed in Christ, and called to walk in Him.

Our first meditation is called Baptism, A Sacred Washing and is based on this passage from Titus 3:5:

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”.

Your baptism is not merely a memory: it is your identity. The water poured over you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit was no empty gesture. It was God’s gracious act, a divine washing in which your old self was buried and your new life in Christ began.

Holy Baptism is not just a ritual. It is a means of grace—a sacred act through which God delivers His saving gifts and promises: forgiveness of sins, salvation from death and the devil, and eternal life to all who believe. At the font, your sinful flesh was drowned and you were raised with Christ. His death became your death. His resurrection became your new life.

A New Creation in Christ
Baptism is not your work – it is God’s. It is not simply your declaration of faith, but God’s declaration that you belong to Him. Through water and the Word, He adopted you as His child, sealed you with His name, and clothed you in the righteousness of Christ as St. Paul tells us in Galatians 3:27: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are no longer your own; you have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This washing is once for all, but its power endures. The grace of Baptism is not locked in the past; it flows into every day of your life. When you fall into sin, your baptism calls you to repentance. When you are burdened with guilt, your baptism declar3es: “You have been made clean.” When you are tempted to doubt your salvation, your baptism cries out: “You are a child of God.”

United with Christ Forever
What took place at the font was a death and a resurrection. You were joined to Christ. Not metaphorically, but truly. Paul writes in Romans 6:3 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into Hid death?”

And if you have died with Him, you will also live with Him. No enemy – not even death – can separate you from the One into whom you have been baptized.

And so, your baptism becomes your daily comfort. You can rise each morning and say, “I am baptized into Christ.” No accusation from the devil, no shame from the past, no fear of the future can undo what God has done. You are His. Signed with His name. Buried with Christ, raised with Christ, and destined to live with Christ forever.

A Life of Daily Dying and Rising
Baptism is not a finish line; it is a beginning. The baptized life is a life of ongoing repentance, each day drowning the old Adam with all his sins and evil desires and rising again by God’s grace to walk in newness of life. It is a life of bearing the cross, clinging to God’s promises, and trusting the One who began a good work in you.

You may not remember your baptism, but Christ does. He has not forgotten the name He placed upon you, nor the promise He made to you. And He who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light will never let you go.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, I thank You that through water and the Word You have made me Your child. Keep me in the grace of my baptism. Drown my sins each day and raise me up to live in Christ. Strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit, that I may walk in faith, serve in love, and cling to the promise that I am Yours forever. Amen.

Hymn: LSB 590 Baptized into Your Name Most Holy

Our second meditation is called: The Church: The Household of God and is based on Ephesians 2:19 –

You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

You are not alone. You belong to something far greater than yourself. You are part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church – the Bride of Christ, the family of God, the communion of saints. She is not a man-made institution or a spiritual social club. The Church is God’s creation, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

The Church is not flawless, but she is beloved. She is often scorned by the world, and at times even wounded by her own members. Yet she endures, not because of her strength, but because of God’s faithfulness. Christ will never forsake His Bride. He laid down His life for her. He cleanses her with His Word. And He will present her radiant and pure before the throne of God. St. Paul teaches this in Ephesians 5:25-27

 
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Gathered by Grace
The Church is where God gathers His people around His life-giving gifts. She is not defined by walls or buildings, but by the presence of Christ in Word and Sacrament. Wherever the Gospel is preached in its truth and purity and the Sacraments rightly administered, there is the true Church.

You were called into this Church through Holy Baptism. You are sustained in this Church through the preaching of the Word and the body and blood of Christ. And you are sent from this Church into the world, bearing the name of Jesus and reflecting His love to your neighbour.

The Body of Christ
No Christian is ever alone. You are a member of the body of Christ joined to brothers and sisters across the world and throughout the ages. Together we rejoice, suffer, worship, and hope. We are the Church militants, struggling here on earth. Yet also united with the Church triumphant, already at rest in heaven. Every time we gather together in God’s name, we join these saints and angels, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to our Triune God.

The Church is also a spiritual mother. Through her ministry, God creates and nourishes faith. She speaks the word of truth in life. She disciplines with mercy. She comforts the afflicted. And even when she is bruised and burdened, she remains beautiful, because she is clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The Pillar and Foundation of the Truth
In a world of confusion and shifting opinions, the Church stands as a “pillar and buttress of the truth”.
“If I delay”, Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:15, “you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

She does not change with the culture, because she is rooted in the unchanging Word. She exists not to entertain or accommodate the world, but to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel.

And through all ages – through persecution, weakness, and trial – Christ has kept His promise: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The Church endures, because Christ lives and works through her.

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, You have called and gathered me into Your holy Church. Keep me steadfast in Your Word and faithful to Your gifts. Help me to love my fellow members, to cherish the fellowship of the saints, and to bear witness to the hope that is mine in You. Preserve and protect Your Church in every place, and bring us at last to the heavenly feast, where we will dwell with You forever. Amen.

Sing Hymn LSB 646 Church of God, Elect and Glorious.