Pastor’s Pen |November 2023
As I write this Pastor’s Pen article, I am enjoying the tranquility and peace of the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale while attending the Bishop’s Fall Gathering with about 60 of my colleagues from around the Grand Canyon Synod. Every October, Bishop Deborah Hutterer organizes a gathering of clergy and other leaders serving in ministry settings and congregations for renewal, respite, and relationship-building. This year, we gathered under the theme “Be Bold in Your Baptism” and pondered what it means to live out God’s promise in Christ in our daily lives.
I’m struck that the Bishop’s Fall Gathering’s theme “Be Bold in Your Baptism” relates to a recent community event hosted by our congregation. In October, we facilitated our very first Pub Theology at Phil’s Filling Station and wondered how our baptismal identities impact how we think about and connect to the water crisis in the Southwest. As baptized people of faith what are our responsibilities when it comes to water usage and conservation? How are we called to steward this physical resource? We had a lot of ideas for how our congregation might take concrete steps toward water conversation and care for creation. As I listened to the insights shared at Pub Theology, it was clear to me we are people who take our baptismal identities seriously! For many of those who gathered, our baptismal promises are both about the grace we receive in Christ and how this grace motivates and energizes us for life in the world. This includes our care for creation and the complex realities of stewarding water in this region.
So, people of God, remember your baptism. Remember that you are claimed as a beloved child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. What great and powerful news! This is the kind of news that empowers us to live differently in this world. We are free to live with hope. To care for God’s creation. To strive for justice and peace. To be the heart of God in the world making known the promise of Jesus in all that we think, say, and do.
Beloveds, you are claimed by God. You are loved and embraced. Be bold in your baptism.
In faith,
Pastor Beth