WE ARE BAPTISED

While serving in Iraq as a chaplain for the Army, I was speaking to one of our interpreters about life as an Iraqi and how he came to help our joint forces. He told me his story about living in Mosul area, (northern Iraq), and being a Christian in a Muslim land.

I was surprised by this and asked him how things were going for him and his family (during this time – as now – many Christian people living in those areas were being frequently attacked). He said things were difficult with many attacks against even their church building. He then went to tell me about his Christian community worshipping in that area of Iraq for almost 1500 years.

After much discussion I finally got around to asking him, “Why do you stay with such violence all around?” He looked at me incredulously and spoke firmly, “Chaplain, we are baptized.”

“Chaplain, we are baptized” has always struck me as an important watchword for the Christian church. A baptized people, baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live in the world with evil all around it. We live together by the grace of God – empowered by the Holy Spirit – confessing the faith in good times and bad.

This is the start of our Common Confession. Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians says: “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you were called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (4:1-5).

Martin Luther in his Large Catechism confesses: “Therefore let all Christians regard their baptism as the daily garment that they are to wear all the time. Every day they should be found in faith and with its fruits, suppressing the old creature and growing up in the new. If we want to be Christians, we must practice the work that makes us Christians, and let those who fall away return to it.”

Who am I? I am baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. With this baptism I have been placed in a community of faith along with all my brothers and sisters around the world.

Thank you, elder brother, for reminding me of this and allowing me to pray for you still.

#Ephesians #baptised