BAPTISED
We see here the full fervour of the Early Church as, filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles proclaim an urgent message:
You must repent and everyone of you must be BAPTISED in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It’s easy for us to lose that sense of urgency in our own faith journeys. Listening to the Acts of the Apostles throughout Eastertide gives me the chance to reconnect with my ancestors in the faith. The choice to be baptised in the Early Church opened up a whole new world view. Jesus is Lord (kyrios) and not the emperor. Loyalty now is to the values of the Kingdom and not the Empire.
The majority of us will have been baptised as babies and so didn’t make that life changing choice ourselves. But what we do have now is the invitation to live that baptismal calling to the full. The life of faith is never static and what is means for each of us to share in Christ’s anointing as Priest, Prophet and King will grow and develop through our lives.
How does your baptism shape your life today? Are you living in the fullness of the Spirit’s power?
(Acts 2:36-41, Easter Tuesday)