Dan Czaplewski posted on January 04, 2007 12:40
From time to time, people tell me (as their pastor) that they have a condition that is “terminal.” That statement opens to me a door for ministry and I recognize how hard it must be to say those words about yourself or someone you love. It is a time when you need God’s grace.
“It’s terminal” is also the universal human condition. We could look into the nursery on the maternity ward of a hospital and say about each infant, “it’s terminal.” The human condition is such that we all end the same way, in death. I don’t say this to be morbid or as a symptom of post-holiday depression. “It’s terminal” can be good news.
As we approach the Sunday when the Church celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord, we have time to reflect on our own baptism. Lutherans are convinced that in baptism we die. Baptism is a terminal event: it is an end to sin and death. Baptism is also a beginning - the beginning of life.
We have constant reminders that life, as we know it, is terminal. The way my legs ache after I work out and the way my back aches if I’ve been working on my house hold up before me my own mortality. When I am reminded of my baptism, Christ holds up before me my immortality in Him.
If you are living with a terminal condition or the terminal condition of a loved one-you can live in hope because of Christ’s death and resurrection. Your hope becomes personal because of your baptism.
Happy New Year in your baptismal grace.