This Is The Church Jesus Created

We attended a baptism this morning. Our German colleagues, Lothar Stock and Sabine Schmidt, brought their five-month old baby girl to St. Andrew's Lutheran Church on this first Sunday of Pentecost--"child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever, welcomed into the body of Christ and into the mission we share." How many times have we heard it? How many times have we witnessed a baptism and made promises to support the parents and young child? How many times do we remember the baptism of our own children, or perhaps even our own baptism? Yet every time, it is a new experience, a new creation. For Rod and I, it was joyous, humbling, uplifting, emotional, and mysterious.

The baby was held by a young Papua New Guinean woman. The sponsors were both German and Papua New Guinean. Most of the missionary community was in attendance. Work colleagues and friends who don't normally come to St. Andrew's were there. The pastor invited all the the leaders of St. Andrew's to stand in honor at the font. The congregation, some 400 people, was mostly Papua New Guinean but three Seminary students from the Philipines were in attendance. A pastor and wife who had just arrived four days ago from the Philipines attended, their first worship experience in PNG, one they will not forget quickly!

This is the church Jesus created. What an honor and joy it was today to be part of the body of Christ, children of God from all over the world. And it was a child that brought us all together today to remember that this is indeed the church Jesus created.