Sermon (January 25) “United with a Common Purpose” by Rev. Robert McDowell

January 25, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

   In one of the churches I pastored, they had a wall dedicated to the many pastors who served in that church over their 200 plus year history. And since I love history, I would often take time to look at those framed pictures of pastors over the years.

     One of the things I discovered about professional photography was that it wasn’t until the 1950s that people started to smile for pictures. In the late 1800s, there was a preacher who looked really mean. I would take the confirmation class to look at that picture and then ask them, “how would you have liked this guy for your pastor?”

     One of the pastors of that church that people liked to point out was the father of Norman Vincent Peal who became known for writing the book, The Power of Positive Thinking. Sometimes church members would point out to me their favorite pastor on that wall. I wonder what people might be saying about my picture. Or maybe not.

     I served a church where people inside the church as well as outside the church said how much they loved a pastor who was there in the 1970s. People mentioned him during church meetings, when I visited shut-ins, and in casual conversations.

     One of the leading members in the community who wasn’t a member of the church said to me at a community event how much he loved this pastor because he had officiated at their wedding when he was here. It almost became comical how many times people would say to me how much they liked him. The other funny thing about this is that he’s a good friend of mine and while I was the pastor there, he was always very supportive of my ministry.

     But I did run into one long-time church member who didn’t like him, and she wasn’t shy in telling me why she didn’t like him whenever his name was mentioned. But still. A 99.9% favorable rating is pretty good!

     There is nothing wrong with being drawn to a particular pastor or leader in the church. The problem is when we forget to keep our main focus on Jesus Christ and the shared mission of the church which is that we are all called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

     Which brings me to our appointed I Corinthians scripture reading today. The Apostle Paul wrote this first letter to the Church in Corinth because they were so caught up with their favorite Apostle and Christian leader that they weren’t focused on their common mission which was to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

    When a church keeps their focus on that mission, there is not only unity, but there is also vitality.  

     I remember talking to a church staff member who was telling me about a live nativity that they hosted on their church grounds a week before Christmas.  I said, “How did it go?”  And he said, “Oh, it was great.  We had over 400 people from our community come to see it.”  And then he said something that was very telling of so many of our churches. 

     He said, “I’ve been on staff here for over fifteen years and this is the first time in my fifteen years that this church has really come together to share the love of Jesus Christ with our community.  We’ve always had one group do this, and another group do this ministry, but we’ve always looked at each other with suspicion.  It was a great feeling to see the people of the church come together for a common purpose.”

     It doesn’t sound like the Church in Corinth could have pulled off what my friend was describing to me. In today’s reading from I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul addresses their cliques which were preventing them from having a common purpose.  

     There are a lot of reasons that there are cliques in the church. Some are because of long-time members not wanting to hear the concerns and ideas of newer members. Others are related to theological differences within the church. Some can be related to strong political views. And then there’s First Corinthian Church that had cliques based on their favorite Apostles and preachers.

     In today’s scripture reading, Paul ends up giving us a list of celebrity preachers that had some connection with the Corinthian Church.  The problem was that the people started to break off into cliques based on which Apostle baptized them, or which preacher helped them to grow in their faith.

     Paul himself was one of those celebrity preachers.  Paul was an Apostle which is a title that is only given to someone who had seen Jesus in his resurrected body which he did when he was on his way to persecute Christians. This led him to become a believer in Jesus which then led him to go on missionary journeys to establish churches all across the Roman Empire including the Church in Corinth.

     And so, we have the Apostle Paul who had a connection with the Corinthians. And we also have the Apostle Peter.  I mean, think of the celebrity status of Peter. It was Peter, who was given the name “rock” by Jesus.  And he was also the one who walked on water.  How incredible it would be to slip that into a conversation, not that he did, but people would have known this about him.

     The third name that Paul mentions is Apollos.  We learn more about Apollos in Acts 18.  We are told that he was eloquent and well versed in the scriptures.  In his modern paraphrase, Eugene Peterson says that Apollos was a terrific speaker.

     We are drawn to terrific keynote speakers. I can see why Apollos was put on a pedestal. Speaking of eloquent preachers, one of the early church Fathers during the 4th century was John Chrysostom. The people of his time said that he was such a great preacher, that people gave him the nickname, “Golden Tongue.” He is one of the most celebrated preachers in all of church history. What a great nickname for a preacher! Golden Tongue!

     Here’s a story about one of my favorite preachers. When I was in college, I listened to a cassette tape of a sermon that had been given by Dr. Myron Augsburger and that sermon literally led me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.  If I wouldn’t have listened to that tape, I probably wouldn’t be here today. 

     I must have listened to that tape about 30 times.  At one point in that sermon, he talked about the social issue of nuclear proliferation, a big topic in the 70s and 80s. 

     In that sermon, he referred to the nuclear arms race by saying, “there’s no morality in a mushroom cloud.”  What a powerful line! “There’s no morality in a mushroom cloud.” Just doesn’t have the same impact when I say it.

    Whether it’s Apollos or Myron Augusburger, I can see how it can be really easy to form a clique around a particular person who has had a positive impact on our life.

     Several year ago, I read about a United Methodist church in Wisconsin which started to experience rapid growth after a long history of decline. 

     I remember thinking to myself, that there must be a dynamic pastor behind all of this.  I asked somebody who had visited this church what he knew of the pastor who was part of all of this growth, and he said, “I heard him preach and for a church that is rapidly growing, he really isn’t that dynamic of a speaker.  In fact, when he preaches, he has an annoying twitch. It takes a while to get used to that when you listen to him.”

     This preacher might not be known as Golden Tongue, but when you read their church’s mission statement, you can see why they are growing as a church.  Their mission is,“Christ Before Us in All We Do. “Christ Before Us in All We Do.”  Not Paul, not Cephas, not Apollos.  “Christ before us in all we do.”

     Back to our Corinthians reading. After naming all of these celebrity preachers, Paul gets tough.  He says, “Each of you says, I belong to this famous person, or I belong to this person.  And then he asks these rhetorical questions to drive his point home. “Has Christ been divided?  Or was I crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in my name?”

     And then he says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom (are you listening to this, Apollos fan club?), and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.”

     Paul isn’t against good preaching, and he’s not against baptisms, and he’s not against people who have been gifted with eloquent wisdom. He’s saying that’s not their problem. Their problem is that they are focusing more on that than the unity of the church.  And the only way to have unity in the church is to keep our 100% focus on Jesus Christ and the mission he has given us. 

     John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once said, ‘I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.”

     It’s amazing how much we can do together when we are unified under a common purpose and when we keep our total focus on Jesus Christ.

     16th century, Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther was known to emphasize the phrase, “The Priesthood of All Believers.”  We are all priests to one another and to the people of our community.  We are all priests called forth to move beyond our cliques for the sake of a much higher calling. 

     Oh, by he way. About a year after I had first listened to that tape by Dr. Myron Augsburger.  That tape that changed my life.  That tape that led me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.  I heard that he would be speaking at a nearby college about 45 minutes from my home.   And I eagerly went to hear him with the hope that I would be able to speak with him in person to let him know what a difference he made in my life.

     He ends his lecture.  I push my way through the crowd of students and faculty members of this college and I finally make it to him and I say, “Dr. Augsburger, I just want you to know that you were a big part of helping me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.”

     I’m not sure what I wanted him to say in response, but I didn’t expect this. He looked at me, and with a gentle smile, all he said to me was, “Ok.”

    That was kind of a let down! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that was the best response he could have given me in that moment.

    Maybe it was God’s subtle way of telling me to not focus so much on this eloquent preacher, but to keep my focus on the power of the cross, as Paul says in our scripture reading. It is when our focus is on the power of the cross that we can be the unified people God is calling us to be.

     Or like that one church puts it, “Christ before us in all we do.”

Sunday (January 25) Pastoral Prayer

January 25, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

O God, thank you for the opportunity we have every week to gather and say the same prayers, sing the same hymns, hear the same scriptures, receive the same benediction, and then go out to share the same good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

 

We long for this unity especially in a culture that will often seek to divide us into competing political parties, denominations, and attach us with all kinds of labels.  Thank you that in the midst of our many differences, we can all be one in you.

 

We especially feel unified whenever we come to this time of the worship service where we offer our collective prayers to you for people on our prayer list, for people we have shared out loud, for any unspoken prayer needs, and for this world that you love so much.

 

Whenever we feel splintered or divided, remind us of our common purpose which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. May we all work together in being the people you have called us to be.

 

And now unite us as we pray this prayer that you taught your disciples and now invite us to say together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (January 18) “The Invitation” by Rev. Robert McDowell

January 18, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     Does anyone RSVP anymore? At the beginning of a wedding rehearsal, I asked the bride how many people were going to attend the reception dinner. And she said that she wasn’t sure because not many people had sent back their RSVP even though she knew that many of the non-responders would probably attend anyway.

     Since she was frustrated at the lack of response, I asked her, “What if you don’t have enough places for them at the dinner?” And sounding even more annoyed, she said, “Well, they’ll be in for a big surprise won’t they, because they sure won’t be eating here.”

     I was reading where it’s not uncommon for over 20% of the people to NOT respond to an invitation. I became curious as to why this is, so I sent out a mailing inviting people to a meeting where we can talk about it, but not enough people responded.

     All kidding aside, it is interesting to me that there are that many people who don’t respond one way or another. I wonder if it’s something to do with our human nature where we want to wait until the very last minute before making a commitment, but eventually the RSVP gets lost, thrown away, or we forget about it altogether.

     This is why you got to like Jesus’ approach in calling those first fishermen to follow him. Instead of bothering with invitations, he went by the seashore, found some people who were trying to make a living, and he invited them to follow him.

     But why were these fishermen so willing to drop their nets to follow Jesus? It wasn’t like Jesus was offering them a new job with better pay. What led them to make such a life changing decision right there on the spot?

     I have a friend who says that the church is guilty of being too afraid to invite people into a deeper relationship with God. He says that we assume that people will say no when in reality, many people are longing to become part of something bigger than themselves.

     Maybe this is why those fishermen were so willing to drop everything and follow Jesus. They were ready for something new and different even though they didn’t exactly know what to expect.

     We don’t know how much these fishermen knew about Jesus prior to this meeting by the seashore. Matthew doesn’t offer any details. He does however tell us just before this story that Jesus had already started to announce that the Kingdom of Heaven was coming near.

     Perhaps they had heard rumors of this wandering Jewish teacher who was announcing this intriguing message of good news. Maybe this was why they were so willing to accept Jesus’ invitation to follow him.

     We don’t know. All we know was that they did. They accepted the invitation to follow Jesus.

     Of course, not everybody just drops what they are doing to follow Jesus. Many of us fit into that late responding category and when Jesus invites us to follow him, we take our time before finally saying, “Yes, I’ll follow you, Jesus.”

     I’m the type of person who likes to look at all the options before making any big decision. Don’t rush into anything because you might regret it, is the thinking, here. And so, we put off making a decision about something until we’ve gathered all the facts and then we finally decide.

     God has wired us differently. That is true. Leadership experts say that people can be divided into five groupings based on how early or on how late we tend to jump on board in making a commitment to a new opportunity.

     They say that only 2.5% of us are innovators where we come up with the new idea or concept that can lead us into a better future. Just 2.5% of us.

     13.5% of us are in the category called, Early Adopters. People in this category can sense a good thing when they see it right away and they jump on board early. No waiting around for them.

     It’s not that they are impulsive. Once they hear the information about the new opportunity and it makes sense, there’s no need to wait. They want to get going.

     Then there are the middle categories which make up most of us. These middle categories represent 68% of those of us who are in either the early majority category or the late majority category.

     If we’re in one of these two categories, we need more time, some more than others, until we warm up to a new idea. Quite often, we don’t jump on board until we see other people who we respect jump on board, and then we do as well.

     And the last category represents 16% of us and these are the people who don’t jump on board until way down the line. The name given to this category is the name, “Laggards.”

     Back in the early 90s, I remember a friend of mine telling me about a pastor he knew who was now using a pager so that people could reach him when he was out of the office. This was long before cell phones were a thing.

     Here’s what I said to my friend who told me this. “Who feels that they are that important that they would need a pager?”  I actually said that.

     And today, if I leave home and forget my cell phone, I panic because people won’t be able to reach me. It takes me a while before I get with the program.

   This is why our scripture reading this morning has always mystified me. It’s hard for me to believe that these common fishermen just laid down their nets and started following Jesus. They were definitely part of that rare breed of early adopters.

     Are we ready to lay down our nets when Jesus calls us to follow him?

     CS Lewis who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia has an interesting story about how he finally accepted the invitation and became a follower of Jesus. A professor of medieval literature at Oxford University, Lewis was an atheist.

     His mother had died of cancer when he was only nine years old, shattering his trust in God’s goodness. By the age of fourteen, he had rejected faith in any kind of God, and his horrific experience during World War I in which he was wounded only confirmed these convictions.

     Even though Lewis eventually began to reconsider his faith, he still wasn’t ready to become a Christian.

     On a fall evening in 1931, Lewis had dinner with J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. They walked through the college’s park, talking until the early hours of the morning.

     The conversation turned to mythology. Lewis felt that myths, despite their imaginative appeal were in the end, merely lies. Tolkien proposed instead that the beauty of Christianity is that it is a myth that happens to be true.

     The universal hunger planted in human beings by God, evidenced by all the world’s mythologies was made manifest in time and space. In Jesus Christ, God really did walk this earth, die, and rise again.

     A few days after that late night walk, Lewis, still pondering the conversation, got in the sidecar of a motorcycle for a trip to the zoo. Lewis later wrote, “When we set out, I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo, I did.”

     Even though it took C.S. Lewis a long time before responding to the invitation, when he did, he jumped in with both feet. So maybe, the important thing isn’t in how long it takes us to say yes to Jesus, but when we do, let’s be ready to drop our nets and follow him.

     A pastor I know tells the story of a time when he had the privilege of baptizing a ninety-nine year old man during worship one Sunday morning. This man had attended church occasionally throughout his life and finally decided to get baptized. He was finally ready to drop his net and follow Jesus.

     It was a very moving service as the people of this congregation watched this elderly man step toward the baptism font to be baptized. He responded to the baptism questions, each time, speaking in a shaky and soft voice with the words, “I will.”

     The pastor then baptized him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then the congregation said a prayer of blessing over him.

     Following the worship service, a church member came up to the pastor and said, “Uh, he was kind of cutting it close, don’t ya think?”

     Maybe he did cut it close, but the important thing was that he said yes to Jesus.

     In our United Methodist theology, we believe that in any given moment, Jesus is inviting every single one of us to follow him. God’s grace is being extended to us no matter who we are or how old we might be.

     We call this “prevenient grace,” the grace of God that goes ahead of us to prepare us to say yes to Christ. God’s grace stirs within us and is always encouraging us to drop our nets and follow him.

     Even when we’re not aware of this grace that is at work in our lives, it is still reaching out to us and beckoning us into a closer relationship with Christ.

     I can’t remember how old I was at the time, maybe around ten or eleven, I invited all of my friends to come to a birthday party at my house. The only problem was, I didn’t tell my parents about the party. I was throwing a birthday party in my honor.

     When my friends started coming to the door of my house, my mother finally figured out what was going on. She had to go out and buy a large cake, party favors and enough food for about a dozen of my friends who came to our house that day.

     On the day before my birthday and without telling my parents, I had handed out birthday invitations to all of my friends. And many of them came. For many years now, I have been known in my family as the one who threw a birthday party for himself.

     When Jesus saw those fishermen along the Sea of Galilee, he extended an invitation to each of them to come to a Kingdom of heaven party. And Matthew tells us that they dropped their nets and followed him.

     I like to think that every time we gather for worship, it’s an invitation for each of us to attend God’s party. It’s a party where all are invited. Nobody is left out.

     Jesus says to each one of us, “Drop your nets and follow me.”

     The invitation has been extended. Will you say, “yes” and come to the party? 🎉🎊

Sunday (January 18) Pastoral Prayer

January 18, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Lord Jesus, thank you for inviting us to worship this morning. Before we even began to think about coming to church today, it was your grace that was beckoning us to respond to your invitation. Thank you for your grace that goes before us and invites us to go with you, with you, all the way.

 

This morning, we surrender to you anything in our lives that would keep us from hearing and responding to your call in our lives. Help us to hear your voice above the noise of our TVs and computers, above our worried minds about what the new day may hold, above our own opinions and agendas, above our sorrows, regrets and broken dreams. Help us to hear you calling us to drop our nets and follow you.

 

Even now, we drop our nets to thank you for your presence in our lives, the offering of your saving grace, and for our many blessings. We drop our nets during this time of prayer to lift up to you the people on our church’s prayer list as well as others who are on our hearts and minds this day. Surround each of these needs with your healing, comforting, guiding, and gracious presence. We drop our nets to lift up to you our own joys and concerns to you. And we drop our nets on this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, to respond to your invitation to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you.

Thank you for hearing our prayers and for your invitation to pray these words that you taught your disciples and now teach to us…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (January 11/Baptism of the Lord Sunday) “Letting Go of Our White Knuckled Grip” by Rev. Robert McDowell

January 11, 2026 (Baptism of the Lord Sunday)

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     Before each chapel service, my seminary president, Dr. Leonard Sweet, would greet us from the pulpit with these words, “Good morning, church!”  I always thought that was a great way to begin a worship service.  Reminding all of us of who we are.

     We are the church of Jesus Christ.  And this must mean something to us, otherwise we wouldn’t be here this morning.  This is who we are. It’s what we do.

     After the birth story and the story of the wisemen in Matthew’s Gospel, we don’t hear from Jesus again until he comes to John to be baptized.

     Baptism.  We read this scripture passage, and we wonder why on earth, Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, would need to be baptized.   

     Even John has problems with this because he tells Jesus, “I think we might have this backwards.  Aren’t you supposed to baptize me?” And then Jesus tells John why he was right the first time.  Jesus wants to be baptized so that he will be able to fulfill all righteousness.

     Baptism, for Jesus, isn’t primarily about getting cleansed from sin, since he was totally sinless. For Jesus, it was more about fulfilling all righteousness. But what does that mean? The word, “righteousness” has a heaviness to it. What does it mean to fulfill all righteousness?

     The word, “righteousness” isn’t so much about you and me being moral and nice people who do good things for others, although that is an important dimension of it.

     Righteousness, according to the Bible has a far richer meaning.  It means to live in a covenant relationship with God in which we participate in God’s kingdom of love, justice, equality, and healing for our broken and hurting world. God’s righteousness is about making this world new again the way it was always meant to be. That idea of God’s righteousness is so much larger than our more individualist understanding of that word.

     So, when Jesus offers us his personal life mission statement at his baptism by saying that he has come to fulfill all righteousness, he is saying that he has come to launch this massive Kingdom of God mission in our world. That’s the larger meaning of what it means to be baptized.

     A lot is at stake when we are baptized. Baptism is the beginning of allowing God to have his way with us.  Baptism is a sign of how God wants you and me to let go of our white knuckled grip on our world views, our biases, our assumptions, and allow God to have his way with us.

   In other words, baptism is not for the faint of heart. If we feel a little hesitation about being baptized, that’s actually OK because it is a big deal.

     The most memorable baptism I have ever conducted was early on in my pastoral ministry.  I was to baptize a six-year-old child.  I remember meeting earlier that week with the parents and their child in the sanctuary to explain the meaning of baptism. This six-year-old was just old enough to understand some basic thoughts about baptism, and so I tried my best.

     I have found that it always helps to actually show the child the baptismal font and show them the water so that they know a little of what is going to happen. And so, I had this six-year-old boy come up to see the water, and I explained that I would put some water on his head. He actually seemed very excited about this whole baptism thing.

     Now, as a pastor, I have faced challenges here and there. Budget deficits. Controversial issues. Relational conflicts. But nothing had prepared me for what I was about to encounter that morning in worship.

     The first indication that I knew something might go wrong was when the six-year-old didn’t want to come forward with his parents when it was time for the baptism. He had his arms turn into spaghetti, you know what I mean? He made his arm really loose making it really difficult for his mom to lead him to the front of the church.

     So, she had to pick him up. Miraculously, they made it to the baptism font but he was squirming and crying for dear life.

 

     Knowing that I was working with very limited time, I buzzed through the baptismal questions as if I was an auctioneer at a sale. “Brothers and sisters in Christ: Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we are initiated into Christ’s holy church. We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.”

     Buzzed through the baptismal questions at world record speed. As I began to dip my hand into the water, the six-year-old managed to make his escape by running back to the pew where they had been seated for the service.

     With my hand still dipped in the water, I looked at the mother and she looked at me.  And I quietly asked her if we should maybe try this later, maybe we could sing a hymn or something.

    I just want you to know that I have never seen a more determined look on the face of a mother in my life.  She calmly walked down the chancel steps and headed to the end of their pew where her little boy was now seated.

     As she reached her hand toward his hand, the six-year-old made his way toward the other end of the pew toward his grandparents who were seated in that same pew.

     Before the mom could make it to the other side of the pew, this little boy wiggled away from grandma and grandpa and darted down the long middle aisle toward the back of the sanctuary.

     Did I mention how determined this mother was? God bless her. This mother runs at full speed down the middle aisle and catches up to him just before he was about to leave the sanctuary. She scoops him up in her arms with such gracefulness that we could all tell she had probably done this many times before, and brings her six-year-old boy back to me and to the father.

     She looked at me and said, “Go on.” And I proceeded to baptize this six-year-old boy in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

     This is why I believe in infant baptism. It’s so much easier.

     That memorable baptism has given me a deeper understanding of what is involved when we let go of our white knuckled grasp on the old to make room for the new thing that God wants to do in us.

     To be baptized is to take on Jesus’ personal mission statement which is to fulfill all righteousness.  To care about the things that Jesus cares about.  To do what Jesus wants us to do. To be open to God’s transformative grace in our day to day living.

      I often wonder if that six-year-old little boy has any memory of his baptism that day. It sure has left an impression on me, reminding me again and again, to let go of my white-knuckle grip and allow God to continue to shape and mold me into the person he is calling me to be.

     Fulfilling all righteousness by being part of Jesus’ mission in offering God’s healing, restorative, and redeeming gift of grace in our broken and hurting world is not for the faint of heart. Our baptism will remind us of this mission again and again.

     It will challenge us to let got of our white knuckled grip on the things that keep us from being faithful to Christ. It will prompt us to respond to God’s calling to leave our comfort zones and step out in faith in ways we never imagined all for the sake of God’s kingdom and the fulfilling of all righteousness.

    It will force us to rethink our long-held beliefs because we are now marching to the beat of a different drummer. The kind of righteousness Jesus’ has in mind will always challenge and transform us.

     There is a famous tapestry from the 11th century which depicts the invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Bishop Odo, who was William’s brother is portrayed in this scene as prodding the troops forward with a large spear. The Latin inscription on this tapestry says, “This is Bishop Odo comforting his troops.”

     The old English word, “comfort” is from the Latin phrase, “with strength.” It has the meaning of putting courage into someone. I have never associated the word, “comfort” with being prodded by a spear until I came across this tapestry.

     I wonder if this use of the word, “comfort,” is some of the meaning of what it means to be baptized. In our baptism, God “comforts us” [Insert Air Quotes] by putting a little courage into us to live out the world changing mission God has given us.

     No wonder there are times when we want to dart out of the sanctuary because deep down, we know that change doesn’t come easily. We wonder what this new life in Christ will mean for us. We want to be part of this wonderful mission of Jesus, but our our white knuckles won’t seem to let go of the safe and familiar.

     I was told that I cried at my baptism when I was just a few months old. Baptism isn’t for the faint of heart. And yes, there are times when I don’t want to let go of my tight grip and be open to the new way that God wants to work in and through me.

     Today, we are invited to renew our baptism. To let go so that we can be part of Jesus’ mission of bringing transformation to our community and world. To let go and be intentional in allowing God to guide, lead, encourage, and prod us to live out our faith. 

     As we sing hymns together, come as you feel led by Jesus and remember your baptism. Come up the middle aisle. You are invited to touch the water in the bowl as a way to remember your baptism. And you are invited to take one of the small stones in that bowl of water as a reminder of this day of renewal.

     This is a day to let go of our white-knuckle grip and step out in faith in being part of God’s in-breaking kingdom of love, justice, and redemption.

     As we sing together, come as you feel led and remember your baptism.