My First Baptism...

I had the extreme privilege of baptizing Ava Grace Soto into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit yesterday. This was my first baptism and it was an honor bestowed on me by both the parents and my pastor, since vicars do not normally preside over baptisms. The older I get the more resolved I am in the way Lutherans treat the sacraments. The objective nature of knowing God's word/promise attached to the waters of baptism brings great comfort of knowing I am not saved by my doing or particular feelings for any given day.

A lot of my friends (and readers) are not Lutheran, and often confused by what seems like a Roman Catholic view of the sacraments. One of my favorite NT theologians, A. Andrew Das, delivered an excellent paper a while back on Baptism in the NT that I think would help my non-Lutheran friends grasp where we are coming from on this doctrine. It is a bit long as it attempts to sweep through the entire NT on the subject but completely worthwhile, in my opinion (especially his sections on Acts). Here is the link.