CLAIMED BY GOD THROUGH BAPTISM

Baptism doesn’t save us—only Christ saves us. But baptism is the primary way Christ invites us to join in his death and resurrection, to experience Christ “washing us clean” of our sin in the water, and giving us new life.

In the old days baptism meant you went to the river and were dunked under water, and the preacher held you there till you gasped for air, and you thought you were dying, and then you were brought out of the water so you could breathe, and live again.

That’s how baptism is a sign of our new life in Jesus Christ, and it’s such a primary channel that God uses to pour grace into our lives, that the church believes you will never have to be baptized again—the grace that God gives you in baptism will mark you forever.

So baptism is like an invisible tattoo that you can’t wash off – That tattoo says, from that day forward, you are a beloved child of God, and Christ has claimed you for his church, and nothing you can ever do will change that.

Louisa Jane Dreibelbis and Titan Ray Holman received this sign on Pentecost Sunday and will wear it for ever more.

Welcome to our church family, Titan and Louisa!