From Pastor Phil...

As many of you know, my dad is coming home. With his immanent return, there are things that need to be done around my parents’ house in anticipation for him. Ramps need to be put into place, furniture moved around, and various little things done in anticipation for his coming back. The other day, I went over and built a ramp that would go from the front porch into the main entry. The day started out a little cool, to the point that I was wondering if I would need a jacket. As the day moved on, it got warmer and warmer. The sun came out, and as it did the temps increased. As I worked along, I began to sweat. The funny thing about sawdust and sweat is that it seems that sweat is the perfect adhesive to keep the sawdust stuck on the body. When I went home that afternoon, I took a shower and got ready for Saturday worship services. The shower felt incredible. The grime from the day washed away, leaving me clean. The next day, it was much cooler, but as my parents’ house was being worked on again, the grime built up again. This time, it wasn’t so much saw dust sticking, as other stuff. Dirt stuck to the knees of my pants. Grime stuck to my hands. What was once clean, was not dirty and grimy all over again.

Sin is very much similar to the saw dust and grime of home renovation. As I was working, I didn’t notice that sawdust was sticking to me. It was just kind of there. I went to get into my vehicle to come home, and before stepping in I noticed how much stuff was on me. Sin is the same way. Original sin is on us, and we hardly notice it. It’s just there in the background. It just kind of sticks to us, and we don’t recognize it until the Spirit of God helps us to see our need.

As we see that need, given by the Holy Spirit, we look to Jesus, and in faith, receive an incredible washing. Holy Baptism washes away all the stuff. All the sweat, grime, filth of sin is washed away from us, and in its place, we are made clean through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As our liturgy says, baptism is a lavish washing that takes away all our sin. As an old VBS song says, we are squeaky clean through Jesus Christ.

We live in the real world though. No sooner than we are washed clean in baptism, we do something that brings us back to being filthy. We get dirty when we get angry at the car that cut us off. We have a new speck of grime on us when we get angry because things didn’t work the way we wanted. A little more filth hits us as we do the thing that we things we know we shouldn’t- maybe it’s skipping church during the summer because of… . It’s so easy to get dirty again. It’s so easy to step outside of that baptismal grace. The joy is that the grace of baptism overcomes all. The forgiveness of Jesus stands. We can slip, we can make mistakes, but as we seek the cross, as we try to follow Jesus as we are called to, through the Holy Spirit, we rejoice as we stand in that baptismal grace. Through it all, Jesus remains sufficient for our salvation.

Paul reminds us in Colossians 2:12-13: 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Praise God, our righteousness doesn’t depend on us staying clean. Jesus brings us all the good things that we need. We receive connection to Him in Holy Baptism, we receive the forgiveness of sins, and the community of faith in Holy Communion. As each of us go into the summer, remember all the good things that Jesus has done for you. Next time you take a shower after a good day, maybe take a moment and thank God that He has cleansed you from a filth that is so much worse than the grime we get on our bodies.

Christ is risen!!

Pastor Phil