For anyone that wants to participate in the baptism renewal elective online, here’s the video for week 1. If you have not completed a pre-elective survey, check it out below. We’ll hold a service of baptism renewal at Cornerstone on Tuesday Aug. 30 at 7:00 PM.
Category: Reflections
Baptism Renewal
Baptism. Most of us who have a relationship with Christ have probably been baptized, whether it was as a small child and you don’t even remember it, or as an adult years ago. But does baptism have any meaning now? Do you even think about your baptism? If you’re like me, the only time you do is when you read a bible passage like Romans 6 where Paul writes, “Don’t you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Wait…how does baptism connect with newness of life? Can that have any impact on my life in Christ now? In fact it can, if we understand the nature of our baptism.
This is what we’ll explore in a 4 week elective on Tuesdays August 9, 16, 23, & 30. We’ll consider the meaning and effect of our baptism, ending on week 4 with a service of “Baptism Renewal.” This could just change how you walk in newness of life through your baptism.
This class will be at Cornerstone Church, 5344 Fishcreek Rd. in Stow at 7:00 PM. You can’t make Tuesdays? The first 3 will also be available online. (Check back here after Tuesday night.) Either way I hope you can join us on Tuesday August 30 for a service of baptism renewal.
If you cannot attend Aug. 9, please take a moment to complete the following survey before you watch the first video.
Easter vs. Christmas
Easter Sunday. Resurrection Sunday. The pinnacle of the Christian year. As much as we love Christmas with its preceding Advent season, it is Easter, preceded by Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, that defines God’s redeeming act toward His creation.
There’s something “raw” about Holy Week. Christmas has decorations, parties, too much food, too much money spent on presents, travel, dysfunctional family time, etc, and, oh yeah…Jesus’ birthday thrown in there at the end. Afterward we pack it all away for eleven months, occasionally thinking about God becoming man. However this “incarnation” truly sets the stage for Easter. I know…Easter has the Easter bunny & jelly beans. Somehow, to me, the Easter bunny runs a distant second place from Santa Claus. Easter, along with the preceding Thursday and Friday, is all about Jesus. His love for his disciples…the 12…the 120…the millions to come. His sacrifice which put that love into action, erasing our sins and crucifying the law of sin and death. The limitless power of God shown in raising Jesus from the dead, bringing us new life and power. His promise to return bringing eternal hope.
It’s the story of the cross and resurrection that carries me through the whole year. It is the reason I’m alive. The reason I can know my Creator…can have a relationship with him. Every day I experience its effects as I confess my sins, repent and experience the forgiveness that flows through Christ. Every day I experience the power of the resurrection by saying “no” to sin and death and “yes” to God. Every day I can experience the victory of Christ in the strength of His indwelling Holy Spirit. Every day I look forward to spending forever with Him in an eternal home. Truly, “death has no sting.”
This is God’s story. Through the thread of creation to incarnation to re-creation He invites us to participate in it. As much as I enjoy the gifts God has given to me, ultimately it is the worship I give to him that matters. Not so much the gift I’ve received as the gift I can give to Him.
That’s my prayer for you this Easter. Hear His story of Creation-Incarnation-Re-creation. Accept His invitation to enter into it. Then worship with your whole heart this God Who loves without limits.
A blessed Resurrection Day,
Bill Kirkwood