Thoughts for the Day

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition .... and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ... When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

The theologian the Rev Doctor John Westerhoff III, has always influenced me. He tells the story of going to give a talk on 'God the Creator'. The students were talking and joking, totally caught up with their conversations. He silently entered the room and stood looking out of the huge windows opposite. Slowly the students turned to see what he was looking at. Outside, the evening sky was alight with streaks of red and orange in the most glorious display of colour! His talk on God the Creator started from this experience.

Westerhoff wrote about the way we grow in faith. As a tree trunk develops new rings over the years, so too does our faith develop. Each stage builds on the previous stage. So Experienced faith might occur as a tiny child copies someone putting their hands together in prayer. Affiliative faith occurs when we join a group, perhaps for a nativity play. Searching faith occurs when we start to ask questions about our beliefs. Owned faith is when we conclude this is what we believe. Westerhoff's work is all based on experience and not on reason. So for him Baptism is not just a spot of water applied to the head. The person should be held below the water for a second to simulate dying. The newly baptised person is thus dead to sin, and rises to new life.

Paul in today's reading talks about us being 'buried with him in baptism, and 'raised with him through faith in the power of God'. This dying and rising occurs daily as we continue to confess our sins, which he says are 'nailed to the cross' as we are forgiven and grow in faith.

Lord Jesus Christ,
as we daily live out our life,
and confess our sin to You.
May we never forget that our new life
has been achieved by Your action
of dying for us.
Help us not to wallow in guilt
but be grateful for Your loving kindness
and make a fresh start,
resolved to live a life
that reflects Your love for us.
Amen.