The Baptismal Covenant (The Book of Common Prayer, Episcopal):

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and

in the prayers?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to

the Lord?

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of ever

human being?

The commitments we make in our Baptismal covenant, repeated above, offer a very simple guide to the Christian way of life. What does it say?

Learn, Eat, and Pray together.

Try to live a good life and when you mess up, apologize and try again.

Love God, Love your Neighbor.

Yes. Those Neighbors.

Oh and Yes, even the ones you don’t know or like very much.

The Christian life, distilled, is lived in community in order to seek out the common good for all and gradually expand that community outward.

There have been many corruptions of this narrative offered in recent years, and honestly throughout history. We are in a constant process of learning to be better and do better, in the hopes that future generations will live lives more directed towards God’s word and Jesus’ teaching.

This Sunday we will welcome a new member into the family of Christ, Rosalie. She is a little too young to make these promises on her own, but the good thing is we all will gather together on Sunday to make these promises on her behalf, until at which time she can make her own promises sometime in the future. And we all get to work together to be a part of meeting these commitments throughout Rosalie’s life and the lives of all of those who walk through these doors.

I hope you will join us as we make these commitments and consider how you might recommit yourself to a life in Christ seeking to love your neighbor, care for the sick, and share in the breaking of the bread.