Webmaster:
Joseph V. Shelley
Please email with any comments; web@tumcfl.org

August Newsletter Column

New Life in Christ

Jesus Christ is risen!  The risen Christ, as he presided over the first church council meeting, instructed the eleven disciples to go unto the nations and baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19).  Jesus, the Normative Gaze of Our Existence, commanded his followers to baptize others into a new life which is grounded in the Divine Triad, the God of New Happenings.

 Baptism is the sign of new life through Jesus Christ.  It is an initiation and incorporation into Christ (UMH, p. 33), and the immersion into a polychromatic community (I Cor. 12:13) as we enter into a new narrative, and God begins to reedit the contours of our souls (sanctifying grace).  This new life is filled with new images and pictures that signify our participation in Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5); a washing away of sin (I Cor. 6:11); a reclothing in Christ (Ga. 3:27) and a liberation into a new humanity in which barriers of division whether of sex or race or social status are transcended (Gal. 3:27-28). 

The above listed images, and there are more, highlight and choreograph our corporate existence in Jesus Christ.  Christian existence is about new pictures, engineered by The Holy Spirit, being flashed onto the screen of life by disciples of Jesus who are committed to the transformation of life.  Through powerful and dramatic life-giving and life-altering gestures, we impact a cross- section of people each and everyday.  Can you think of some pictures being flashed in our midst?  Let me share a few snapshots from our July 2008 archive:  Look at 3 year old Kimberly Anne Smith at baptism; trustees leading us in a workday; rooms 20 and 28 restored with new carpet and fresh paint; two strangers (a young, pregnant mother and an unemployed man) receiving financial assistance and food; a family of four joining the church; members responding to serve as liturgists, greeters, ushers, and choir members; youth journeying to be in missions with our Choctaw friends in Philadelphia, Mississippi; children running around at the ice cream social and summer camp; adults concluding Disciple Bible 1 with a communion celebration; and the Tuskawilla Church welcoming Kimberly, Naomi, and me at a Sunday reception and a Super Senior’s Luncheon.

Our collective life and witness in Jesus Christ is embodied through such new images of passionate worship, intentional discipling, radical hospitality, salty service, and extravagant generosity.  As we enter more deeply into Christian existence, our lives become ever more cruciformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and our intentional acts of engagement with others. It is, if you will, a “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” happening. God is molding and making us after God’s will and baptism reminds us of God’s radical grace and new life in us.

Walking With Jesus,

Dwayne Craig, Pastor