Maiden Voyage
Wow brand new tool. I am going to see how this works. If all goes well maybe I will make this a regular habit.
My hope for the blog is simple. I want to engage you about faith. Nothing more nothing less.
I did not grow up in a normal church. I didn't grow up Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodists, or even Congregationalist. I grew up Salvation Army. Some people are not even aware that the Salvation Army is a church, but it is.
The one thing that I missed most growing up in the Salvation Army church was traditional church traditions. We didn't take communion. We didn't baptize. We didn't celebrate church holidays (like Ash Wednesday, Maunday Thursday, etc.).
So as a teenager, I started visiting churches with my friends and I was blown away by all these traditions that I never knew existed.
My feelings walking into these churches was inadequacy and jealousy. This faith I claimed as my own; I now didn't feel as if I knew anything about as I visited these churches. This then led me into a feeling of being jealous of my friends who have grown up with these rich stories and traditions of faith.
Over the last few weeks at Trinity, we have been exploring the origins of communion and baptism. For me growing up without any traditions, I now have a passion for not only being a part of the traditions of the church but making sure that the traditions of the church are done in a way that lead us into a deep relationship with Jesus Christ.
Matthew 3:11 John the Baptists shares these words... "I baptize you with water for repentance but He who is coming after me is mightier than, I whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire".
From this text:
Who is John speaking of in Matthew 3:11?
What does John think of this person who is coming?
What is the most important part of the baptism that John speaks of in this verse?
What does baptism mean for you personally?
What does God wish that baptism means for your life?
Reminder:
This Sunday we will show the difference in traditions between those in Jerusalem and those in Qumran and we will see how Jesus identifies with each of these communities.