Dear Baptized Ones,

       We have the opportunity to focus on and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend. On Good Friday, we will focus on God’s loving wisdom displayed in the cross of Christ through 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. On Easter Sunday, we will look to God’s loving wisdom displayed in the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit through 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. As part of our resurrection celebration on Easter Sunday, we are invited to witness God’s Word and wisdom tangibly displayed in Braden Ellis’s baptism! Braden professes faith alone in Christ alone by God’s grace alone and wants to be baptized as a testimony to God’s loving faithfulness in his life. His baptism will signify his cleansing from sin in the death of Christ as well as his being raised to newness of life as signified by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

       In preparation to participate in Braden’s baptism and improve upon your own, please consider how God’s wisdom is displayed in your cleansing from sin in Christ’s death and your reception of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s resurrection. Meditate on how John Calvin expounds on the treasure trove we have in the finished work of Christ, as quoted in Jonathan Gibson’s
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded :

“We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ….If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other.”

Please join us in praising God for entrusting this opportunity to us to celebrate with Braden and help him to grow in Christ’s likeness through worship and discipleship!

In Christ,
Cameron