Living out our Baptism: Called and claimed as Beloved of God

'Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?"

As we continue our look at the promises made at baptism, we come to the promise of repentance and forgiveness. Since the time of Jesus' baptism by John in the Jordan, this act has been about repentance and turning towards God.

In the stories of Jesus' baptism, we hear John the Baptist calling the people of his time to repent, confess their sins, and be baptized as a sign of this new direction. Jesus himself responded to this call and it is in the story of his baptism that we see the sign of God's love and forgiveness. As Jesus comes up out of the water, he hears the voice of God say to him, "You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."

Because we believe that in baptism we are joining ourselves to Christ, we believe that we too are called by name and claimed by God. Baptism is the moment in our life of faith when we celebrate that to be in relationship with God is in our very nature, our fundamental orientation is towards God. If we, like Jesus, are beloved children of God, then it follows that God's forgiveness and mercy will be extended to us. When we struggle to resist evil and when we fail, we are assured of God's forgiveness and acceptance. No matter what we have done and how terrible we believe we are because of it, in God's eyes we are Beloved and precious.

In baptism we recognize this gift from God with our own promise to strive to maintain this relationship - both by resisting what draws us away from God and by confessing when we fail to resist it in order to heal the relationship when it is broken. Returning to God means taking the steps necessary to make amends for the pain we have caused and recognizing once again that we are fundamentally oriented towards God.

Persevering in resisting evil in one form or another is a daily struggle. It includes everything from biting our tongue when we are tempted to gossip or say hurtful things, to discerning how to be good stewards of the resources that God has given us. Returning to God when we fall can be even harder - we might feel separated from God by our own brokenness, unconvinced that we too are worthy of God's love and forgiveness. Whenever we remember our baptism - by renewing our baptismal vows, signing ourselves with the sign of the cross, being sprinkled with holy water or even just when we encounter water in our daily lives -  we are reminded of God's promise of forgiveness.

Next post we will look at our promise to "...proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ."