Dear St. Lukers,

Welcome to 2018! We pray your New Year’s celebrations and first week have found you renewed and restored, ready to be an IMPACTOR for Christ! Last week in worship I mentioned a challenge for St. Lukers to keep out their baby Jesus from their manger scene throughout the year, as a reminder that the one who was born in the manger came to IMPACT our lives and grow to be the Savior of our world. One of our members, Art Weiss, sent me a photo Sunday afternoon with an idea for St. Lukers to share a picture of their baby Jesus still out in their home. If you want to share your picture with us on social media or via our Weekly Update, email them to social@st.lukes.org and we will make sure to share your photos throughout the months ahead. Thanks Art for the great idea! 

This week we begin our IMPACT • [or] series with the greatest impactor the world has ever known, beginning his ministry by coming to the waters of baptism. Jesus, before preaching his first sermon or healing anyone, first went to the waters. Jesus didn’t need repentance, but by participating in this ritual, he initiated his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, being claimed by God as God’s beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

There is no better way to begin worship on the first Sunday of the year than by coming to the water’s edge again. When we come this Sunday for our Baptism Renewal, we reaffirm the vows of who we are and what we believe. We claim again what we believe and how we have promised to live, and hearing again God’s promise that we are God’s children, and with us, God is well pleased. Hearing these words again allow us to ground ourselves as we begin a new year, knowing that before we do anything, God is already pleased with us, simply because we are God’s own.

Join us this Sunday in worship and come to the water’s edge. Remember your baptism and be thankful. We can’t wait to begin a new year ready to be IMPACTORS for Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Jenn.