The Baptismal Covenant

For the next six weeks, our rector John will be sharing insights about The Baptismal Covenant and why it should matter to us as people and as Christians. As always, please reach out to John if you have any questions or thoughts about these insights on The Baptismal Covenant.

Story from The Baptismal Covenant

The author Paula Fox wrote, “To be human is to be in a story.” We are consistently constructing, unearthing, and rediscovering narratives for our lives. Over time we find some of these narratives to be less true than others; these stories make less sense of reality and take us away from the good life, and also over time we find some of these narratives to be truer than others; these stories make more sense of reality and bring us towards the good life.

As Christians, we have an overarching story that we claim guides us into all truth and goodness, this story makes the most sense of reality. It has been revealed to us in the Bible and summarized in the creeds of the Church. The Baptismal Covenant in its first three questions and answers recalls one of these ancient creeds, the Apostles’ Creed. At every baptism, we repeat this summary of the grand story of God so that we might be encouraged and challenged by its truth as well as grow in our understanding both about God and ourselves.

With concern to God, these core beliefs speak about a triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—who acts. We worship a god who creates, incarnates, forgives, resurrects, communes with, and so much more! These actions inform us about the character of God, what matters to God, and God’s purposes for reality. Without these actions by God, we would not know God; we would be in the dark and lost.

However, God has acted and allows us to know God. Because of this, we can know ourselves and understand our place in reality. We can act and speak to align our lives with God’s purposes and develop character that is consistent with God. We cannot be holy people of God if we do not understand who God is and what God wants. We must know, learn, and habituate the story of God in our lives.

Knowing the story and making it more a part of our lives is crucial to our discipleship, so I invite you to engage with God’s story by coming to church, reading your Bible, and coming to our various discipleship offerings. Also come on August 31 for our dedicated day to story as we begin of a year of focused attention on God’s story!

May God’s Story become more substantive and transformative in your life day by day so that you may know the love of God and share that love with others!