By Rev. Aidan Moon

Walking in Newness of Life

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link. 

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too shall walk in newness of life”
– Romans 6:4 English Standard Version

I took this picture back when I was finishing out my time in seminary. Our then 1 year old got a little restless during a chapel service one day, so I carried him out to the narthex so he could stretch his little legs. He was just figuring out the whole walking thing, so he would stumble a bit, look for handholds, and pull himself up on whatever happened to be near by. I snapped this picture of him doing just that, using the baptismal font as his handhold as he practiced putting one foot in front of the other.

I sometimes feel that I too am just figuring out how to walk. I have been given the gift of new life in Christ, but living into that reality takes some practice. I stumble. I fall. I struggle. It can be frustrating. It can be disheartening.

But nonetheless, God has made promises to me. God has made promises to me in my baptism that my old self has been buried with Jesus, and that just as he was raised, I too have access to new life. This is what Paul emphasizes over and over again in his letters: he points us back again and again to the reality of what God has already done, that we might not lose heart at learning this new way of walking. As I try to figure out this walk, I can “lean on the font” – I can put my weight not on my own efforts and intentions, but on the sure and solid promises God made to me in Holy Baptism.

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado