FROM THE PASTOR
Baptism
Dear church,
Baptism is the center of our faith. It is our welcome and immersion in grace, forgiveness, and life. We are excited to share that St. Luke’s will soon be receiving a new baptismal font that has been commissioned specifically for our space.
Our current font has served this congregation faithfully for generations. The new font is being designed with that same kind of horizon in mind, a font for the next 100 years of baptisms at St. Luke’s. It will honor the beauty and character of our sanctuary while also allowing us to practice baptism with fuller immersion of infants in the baptismal waters.
That is actually wonderfully Lutheran. Martin Luther wrote of Baptism in 1520, “The minister’s immersing the child in the water signifies death; his drawing it forth again signifies life…For this reason I would have the candidates for baptism completely immersed in the water, as the word says and as the sacrament signifies.” This action proclaims the heart of the sacrament: dying and rising with Christ.
Our new font gives us the opportunity to recover something of that abundant baptismal imagery, especially with infants, not because more water makes baptism more valid. But there is something wonderfully tangible about abundant water helping us see, hear, and feel that promise: washed in grace, buried and raised with Christ, welcomed forever into the body of Christ.
The font is a generous gift from a bequest. And we look forward to unveiling it at the congregation-wide retreat on Saturday, Sept 12 from 10-2pm. Sign up below.
Most of all, we look forward to gathering around it for generations to come, as each child of God hears the promise: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.
See you in worship,
Pastor Kyle