During high school, I tried a difficult dive off a 3-meter board. By the time I would get to the end of the board, I’d freeze. I forgot what I needed to do to go forward. The only way I was going to get off that board was by starting all over.
The practice of baptism is a lot like learning to dive. It feels like it runs in circles, and we move forward only by beginning all over again. We return again and again to the name we received in baptism: Child of God. We move forward only by returning to the baptismal blessing: “This is my child, the beloved.”
Returning to that name and that blessing orients us to the journey ahead. The call of that baptism issues a simple invitation: “Follow me.”
Today we remember Helena, mother of Constantine (circa 330). It is the sixth Sunday of Easter. The readings are Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21. This message was adapted from “Consolations of Baptism” written by Martha E. Stortz that first appeared in the June 2008 issue of Lutheran Woman Today, now Gather magazine.
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