Remembering Baptisms

 

BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

Do you know what happened on April 14, 1957? That was the day I was baptized! Do you remember your baptism? I don’t remember mine either. I know the date because it’s on the paper stating when and where I was baptized.

You may not know when or where you were baptized, but there are people who were there, and some of them remember. Your parents, godparents and pastor were there. Maybe your grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and some friends.

Today, we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. We don’t know exactly when or where Jesus was baptized. We do know that he was baptized in the Jordan River in Israel by John the Baptist.

There were other people, but we don’t know their names. We do know that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were also there when Jesus was baptized.

Did you know that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were present at your baptism? God the Son – Jesus – was also there. That’s why when a pastor baptizes people, he baptizes them “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

We say that phrase a lot in our worship service. We say it at the beginning of our Divine Service. And after we confess our sins, the pastor says, “… As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

It’s good to remember our baptism because it reminds us that Jesus died and rose for us for the forgiveness of sins and to make us His brothers and sisters, children of God our Father. And so, let us pray to God our Father.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.