For most of us, entrance into the church was marked by the waters of baptism, as a priest or pastor took you as an infant, poured water over your head and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” And from then onward, you were a new creation in Christ. Sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, thenceforward, nothing of this world could separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
Similarly, yet different, you were born into this world, and likely from then onward, nothing of this world could separate from the love of your parents, loving community, or simply your place in humanity.
For us Lutherans, new birth in the waters of baptism marks the beginning of a faith journey with Jesus Christ, just as our physical birth is an entrance into the world as a human being created in the image of God. What unravels from there is not so different, either.
Last week, I was being amused as I was thinking of how my siblings and I are so different from each other. We were raised by the same parents, and my sister and I are virtually twins (we are eight months apart as I was born at 27 weeks) and yet we have almost nothing in common, despite being inseparable in our early youth. I love politics and one of my siblings is not registered to vote. My brother loves sports, but I simply cheer for whatever team my family is cheering for so I can share in that common identity. We were raised in the suburbs, but when I returned from college I moved into the heart of Louisville, as I grew up going to school in the heart of Louisville. My sister, on the other hand, hates the city, does not know how to get around Louisville, and now lives in the country.
But my sister has my mother’s love for the countryside, along with her threatening grit attitude. My dad was a political science major in college but had to quit in order to raise three kids. I like to think that he gave me a baton in a relay race and I crossed the finish line thanks to his work. My brother’s love for sports comes from my dad, and now they participate in each other's fantasy football leagues and obsess over UK basketball and the Tampa Bay Bucs.
The church is not much different from my family. Though we are all claimed by Christ in the waters of baptism, all reconciled to God, all filled by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are not the same. That is one of the many beauties of the church. Just as my siblings and I are nothing alike, we each have our parent’s image shining through us. Though none of us are alike, the image of God is in all of us. And just as being family brings my siblings and I together, being the church, the baptized body of believers, brings us together.
Soon, we will be gathering around Thanksgiving dinner tables, whether virtually or in-person. You may notice that despite coming from the same tree, none of y’all are alike. Take comfort in the knowledge that not only your family draws people of differences together. The waters of baptism do the same as we are bound together and called God’s children.
Your Sibling in Christ,
Pastor Alec Brock, he/him/his
Seminary Intern