Immersed in an Other Story

At the edge of baptism we bring with us narratives — chosen narratives, inherited narratives, and narratives that have been imposed on us. But God consumes these stories, immersing us into Christ's life and story — a people given a new name, a new story, a new destiny. This new story is the beginning, the middle, and the end — our starting point, our ending point, and the pilgrim road we walk in between. A baptism into a people made wholly other by a God who is wholly other.Journaling Prompts:- Where does the identity Peter names — priest, temple, holy nation, chosen people — most press against the story you’ve been telling about yourself? What’s that story, and where does Christ’s story give you a better one?- Peter assumes the gathered church’s visceral enacting of the Gospel — the words spoken, the bread torn, the water surrounded, the songs sung — is how God encounters and forms us as God’s people. How does this challenge what you’ve previously believed church is for?- God’s action forms our identity: birthing us, naming us, storying us in Christ. What would change in your week if you woke up each morning and lived into this baptismal identity?Practice — Liturgy as Lab:The practice of Baptism becomes a prominent anchor Peter invited the church back to over and over again. It is the whole of our life in Christ, enacted in a single moment. What we are, and what we are catching up to.Sit with baptism this week — whether you’ve been baptized or if it still remains a question.If you’ve been baptized: What would it look like to wake up each day and live into your baptism? Each day a death and a resurrection. Where do you find the old story still attempting to lay claim to you?If you’ve yet to be baptized: What is the story you’ve been told to believe about baptism? What story is Peter telling? What would it mean to consider baptism not as a religious decision, but as being immersed into a story that consumes the one you’ve been living?For everyone: Sit with one person this week and tell them what your baptism (real, anticipated, or questioned) means to you right now.Listen to theirs.To explore baptism with a pastor head to https://www.redemptionhou.com/baptism