This Is Our Common Calling

Baptism of the Lord Sunday gets lost in our liturgical calendar. Between the preparation and joy of the Advent and Christmas seasons and the penitence and celebration of Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter time, Baptism of the Lord Sunday seems like a blimp on the radar. It is not. Baptism of the Lord Sunday is an important reminder, reset, and invitation. 

Do you remember your baptism? This is a frequent saying on Baptism of the Lord Sunday. I do not. I was a baby in a tiny Roman Catholic Church. I do remember many subsequent Sundays and being asked if I remembered my baptism. I remember being called back to the reality of that baptism again and again in my ministry, either sitting in a pew or standing at the baptismal font. Like nearly nothing else in our faith tradition, we are constantly reminded of our baptism. 

This repetitiveness is a crucial reset for our spiritual lives. Following the Elder Training Event at First Presbyterian Church of Broken Bow earlier in January, I preached on Sunday and installed a new elder. I love the ordination and installation liturgy in the Book of Common Worship, because I get to say: 

     “There are varieties of gifts,

     but it is the same Spirit who gives them.

     There are different ways of serving God,

     but it is the same Lord who is served.

     God works through each person in a unique way,

     but it is God's purpose that is accomplished.

     To each is given a gift of the Spirit

      to be used for the common good.

      Together we are the body of Christ,

      and individually members of it.”

I get to follow it up by reminding everybody present that:

     “We are all called into the church of Jesus Christ by baptism,

     and marked as Christ's own by the Holy Spirit.

     This is our common calling,

     to be disciples and servants of our servant Lord.”

Too often in the church, we need that reminder to reset our expectations and actions. We are equally called. We are all gifted. By remembering our baptism, we recall that the work of the church is not for somebody else to do alone, but for all of us. We may live out that call in different ways as Christ’s body, but each of us is a part. 

Even more than a reminder, Baptism of the Lord Sunday is an invitation into a deeper and fuller commitment to that calling. “Remembering our baptism” is not a mental exercise about the past. It is an encouragement to live in light of that baptism in better ways. Where and to what is God calling you today? What needs to change in your life so that the new thing God is doing may flourish? Where is the new opportunity to serve?

The blessing of these Elder Training Events is seeing church leaders grow in their calls to ministry. As we add the training for preaching and the Lord’s Supper, it is even a greater blessing to see that call lived out in new ways. 

Remember your baptism!

Blessings, 

Rev. Tim Blodgett

General Presbyter

Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery