There is so much going on in our world and especially in our country today that is frightening. I am a bit of a news junkie, but these days I am finding that I need to disconnect a bit more — and to instead spend more time with the fundamentals of our faith. I especially find it useful to come back to the baptismal covenant, which we renewed last Sunday as part of our service marking Jesus’ baptism.
This covenant provides a crucial reminder of our faith in God, and the five questions at the end provide a useful rubric for how we are to live out our faith in the world:
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers?
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
The answer to each question is, “I will, with God’s help.”
Even, and especially, when our leaders are explicitly not acting in accordance with these rubrics, every one of us can do at least something in our lives to carry them out more fully.
As the contemplative activist Richard Rohr has often said, the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better. Let’s practice the better as much as we can — our world really needs it!
Title: Baptism of Christ; Date: 2005; Artist: Dave Zelenka; Object/Function: Painting; Scripture: Mark 1:4-11; Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
