Shanktified!

Jon Garrett Shank (our 3rd son) was baptized Sunday. Joni has pics on her site.

I love the baptism service. The words are so powerful. I don’t think we meditate on what is actually said during a baptism. Here is part of it, although Bro. Will does a great job of adding things to personalize the entire thing, including walking up the middle of the church to introduce Jon Garrett to his new bothers and sisters in Christ as well as remind them of their commitment to him.

To those who bring this child for baptism:

On behalf of the whole church, I ask you:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin? (response: we do.)

Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? (response: we do.)

Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations and races? (response: we do.)

Will you nurture this child in Christ’ holy church, that by your teaching and example he may be guided to accept God’s grace for himself, to profess this faith openly, and to lead a Christian life? (response: we do.)

To the congregation:

Do you as Christ’s body , the church, reaffirm both your rejection of sin and your commitment to Christ? (response: we do.)

Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include the child now before you in your care? (response: we do.)

JB was also very cute saying “we do” right along with us.

Thanks to Brother Will for sending the text on to me.
excerpt from The United Methodist Hymnal page 40
Copyright 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House

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“Jesus didn’t turn anyone away… Neither Do We.”

This is the catch phrase from the Pro-homosexual United Church of Christ’s controversial ad the networks are refusing to air. The ad features two men holding hands being turned away from night-club style bouncers outside a church. The ad also shows two women (a couple you can presume) arm in arm as part of the people welcomed by the UCC.

While it’s a true statement on it’s own, Jesus did not turn anyone away, there is a huge difference between what Jesus taught and what the UCC is teaching. In a word, repentance. As a church we should welcome everyone to the church and to follow Christ. But that requires you Repent. Matthew sites Jesus’ first sermon as “Repent! For the Kingdom on God is near.” Same for John the Baptist. Luke has Peter calling for repentance as part of his first sermon at Pentecost as well.

Back to Christ. Look at how he treated the rich man in Luke 18:18-24

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

While Christ, didn’t turn him a way, he sure made it clear he must be willing to repent of his sin (in this case love of money) before he could be welcomed.

If we were really concerned with the souls of men, rather than gaining their approval, we the church would be clearly stating that message. It’s not hatred that puts us at odds with homosexuality. It’s love.

I truly love my fellow human beings and get incredible joy out of seeing someone realize they don’t have to go to Hell. They can be saved. It grieves me and should grieve us all, as it did Paul:

…and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. (2 Cor 12:21)

There is a judgement to come. And you (gay or straight) will have to give an account for what you did or did not do. So, I pray that all will repent of their sin, no matter how small you think your sin might be. Repent. To not do so, and to teach others that it’s okay to live in your sin in horrific to me.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Heb 10:26-31

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