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Communion
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
God created man and woman for only one reason—to live in
communion with Him. So the Lord did not make the world and then walk away. He
did not leave man to fend for himself when man sinned. Instead, God has done
everything for only one reason: to draw us, and through us all creation, into a
personal relationship with Himself. But our first parents sinned; they broke
communion with God. And when we inherited the curse of death, God did not sit
back and make us come to Him. The Father sent His Son by His Spirit to draw all
men back into Himself.
Our Lord God made us and then sought to redeem us—not because
He had to, but because this is who He
is. God is the very definition of communion. The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit are three Persons in such intimate communion that They are not three,
but One. And our loving God earnestly desires that all His people and all His
creatures participate and live in this communion that He is.
Holy Baptism is where God restored us to what we were made to
be. Holy Baptism is where God draws us back into communion with Himself. Holy
Baptism is where He renews our life by drowning our hard-hearted, self-centered
Old Adam. Holy Baptism is where the Father through the Son in the Spirit takes
the initiative and comes to us so that He might draw us back into communion
with Himself. This communion is God’s agenda, His desire, His motivation. But
most of all, that is His love and delight.
And so when Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night and tells Him
that His signs and wonders demonstrate that God is with Him, Jesus does not
explain how this happens or talk about what this means. Instead, Our Lord Jesus
invites, encourages, prods, urges, and pretty much begs Nicodemus to enter into
the same loving communion with God the Father. For to enter the kingdom of God
is to come into communion with God—a communion that you cannot know or even
participate in until you have been born from above. And this heavenly birth
does not come from your initiative or desire, but from the love of God the
Father. He sends His Spirit to hover over the water of Holy Baptism, just as He
hovered over the water of creation, to make you a new creation, to cleanse you
from all sin. And with that water your life is made new, for you are returned
to what you were made to be: a child of God in communion with the Holy Trinity.
So, just as Jesus urges Nicodemus, do not marvel when Jesus
says you must be born again. Again, this is not your doing, but God’s. By your
words and actions, you show yourself to be a self-centered son of Adam. But the
Lord’s Spirit comes to you in the water of Holy Baptism and gives you a new
Spirit: the Spirit which creates a clean heart and restores in you the joy of
the Lord’s salvation. Because of that Spirit, you now have from God Himself
what your heart desires—to see the kingdom of God, to enter into the Lord’s presence,
to share and participate in His life, to let His love have its way with you as
you deal with all people in the way that the Lord has dealt with you. That’s
what the Spirit gives you in the water of Holy Baptism—not just a fresh start
and a new life, but God’s life in you and through you for the benefit of all
men. That is communion in God: living in the Lord, living in His righteousness,
living in His kingdom.
God grant that we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
remain in true communion with Him by remaining true to the holy catholic Faith.
And He will keep us steadfast in this Faith: the Faith which is found most
completely in the Holy Christian Church. In the name of the Father and of the
Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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