summer conversation 1

1. A baptized community: Water and the Word

Consciously connecting ourselves with all creation, recognizing and celebrating our interdependence. Recognizing the countless ways in which time and space are essential conditions in which all creation lives.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Water is the primordial substance of being, the womb of all creation, the fundamental stuff of our rebirth and continued aliveness. Water is the physical substance of our baptism.

Baptized into the Christ Event of God's supreme self-revelation in measurable, definable space and time, we become prophet, priests and sovereigns, in stewardship of creation and of all life. Baptism engulfs us in God's creative power of death and resurrection, identifying us with this planet's history and with Jesus Christ.

Consider our relationship to the elements of air, earth and fire…

Galatians 3:28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus…

The waters of baptism form a border and boundary between our old, disconnected, alienated existence and our new life in the community that is the Body of the Crucified and Risen Christ.

We are the body, the corpus, of Christ! Corporate Identity [package]: our logo, our résumé, our curriculum vitae, where we've been, what we've learned, what we live for and die for…who are we? Baptism transforms us from lone, solitary individuals into a position of particularity within the gathered body of Christ. Each of us brings a special history along with unique gifts and perspectives for contribution and service within church and world.

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus? Consider Jesus' relationship to creation, Jesus' stewardship of all life.

Next week:

2. Spaces, places, locations…

Where is home for you? Geographical origins, a more recent physical place or town, an emotional place, treasured people and activities of belonging? How do your experiences in various locations contribute to your understanding of yourselves, of others, of the world? 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd spaces, (4^th?) places in cyberspace; the liminal, the marginal and the central; thresholds, edges and centers. Insiders, outsiders, strangers and friends. …in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!

© leahchang