Baptismal Renewal in 2011

by the Rev. Nancy Christensen
Southeastern Synod Director for Mission

There's a website called "threadless.com" in which artists can submit designs for t-shirts, and the "community" of viewers can score them to determine whether they get printed, or not. The shirts chosen are for sale, and the designs are quirky, bizarre, funny, ironic... you know, "artistic"! One of my favorites is a drawing of a giant squid under the water, holding a stick with the head of a monster above the surface. It's called "Loch Ness Imposter."

As 2010 comes to a close, I'm resonating with that image. It seems there are many of us who often feel as though we are pretending to be something we're not, and who are living with regrets or disappointment as we look back over the past days and months. We believe it's not enough to be a squid! We want to give the world what we think the world expects from us, and so we work hard to fool ourselves, and everyone else.

But, we are forgetting that, even as squids, we are immersed in the waters of our baptism! We are claimed by God so that in each new day we might be emboldened to begin again, and to be born anew. Over and over, we hear God speak that we should "be not afraid" because we are loved, just as we are!

Maybe 2011 is just the opportunity we need to take God's love seriously, and to live more fully into the gift of our baptism. Instead of looking back with regret, perhaps we can look forward with all the hope and possibility that the new year affords to us. And, perhaps we can even go further, still, committing ourselves to taking risks in faith that will make a real difference.

Dave Daubert, Kelly Fryer, and Tana Kjos have created a consulting group called, "A Renewal Enterprise." Their mission statement is this: Be who you are. See what you have. Do what matters. Like the Threadless t-shirt, this mission statement also resonates with me, and speaks to my inner squid. It says that we are free to participate in God's creative experiment without needing to BE more or to HAVE more than what we've already been given.

For this freedom, I, for one, am extremely grateful.

We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give us new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life. Stir up in your people the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. Amen.
(from "Affirmation of Baptism," ELW, p. 237)