by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Covered in Mercy from Head to Foot

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

A word of advise if you plan on visiting Niagara Falls and seeing its majesty from one of the river boats: wear sandals, a short sleeved t-shirt, and shorts. It might be fifty degrees outside, but you will appreciate not having your clothing exposed to the mist created by the turbulence of the falls. There is a reason that on the American side the boat company is called Maid of the Mist.

Everyone on the boat wears a blue poncho. It has a hood and covers a person down to their knees keeping that person dry where it covers them. However, the wind caused by the falls makes keeping the poncho in place next to impossible. I was as soaked as if I had been standing in a Colorado downpour.

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Galatians 3:27 English Standard Version

There was something invigorating about the water of the Niagara River drenching my body. It was relentlessly refreshing. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t sting. It covered my balding head and ran down my face. It dripped from my nose and mouth. If it had been a little warmer, I would not have wanted the boat to turn back towards the dock.

Through baptism we are soaked from head to foot in the mercy of God, drenched in his love. We are washed clean of our sin and adopted into God’s family. And God never turns the boat around. Every day, every minute, every second we are drenched in God’s mercy through Christ, through his death and resurrection for us. Today you and I stand on the bow of God’s ship and experience the wonder of the drenching mercy of God from head to foot.

If I return to Niagara Falls and it is a hot day, maybe I’ll only wear a swimsuit and flip flops.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado