Our Baptismal Call

The Baptism of the Lord is one of my favorite feast days to celebrate. We have just ended our Christmas season and have come in to the new year and its appropriate that the celebration of our Lords Baptism would take place at the start of the new year, because baptism represents a new beginning. The new beginning, or new life that we have through baptism is talked about through out Scripture. In the book of Titus we read “he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”[1](Titus 3:5). But this rebirth or regeneration is not only talked about in the New Testament, talks of this new birth is found in the Old Testament as well, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:25-26).

When we sat down to discuss the date of the opening of the church having had picked the first Saturday of the month as our regular meeting time, we realized that that the first Saturday in January was going to be the first of the year. Not wanting to take a chance that I would be the only one who was here we decided to push it back to the second Saturday for this month. I did not have my liturgical calendar with me and I didn’t realize that today was going to be the celebration of the Baptism of our Lord but it is fitting, a celebration where we celebrate new birth we are celebrating the birth of a new parish and its fitting that this feast focuses on baptism because the baptismal vow that we say as a church at each baptism is the very foundation of this church. The words in the baptismal covenant “Will…strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”[2]Is at the very core of everything that we do at Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Church.

Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Church is church that is Open, Inclusive, and is proud of its Anglican heritage. As an open church we celebrate the traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Holy Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, or the Mass. The breaking and reception of the bread and wine as representing the body and blood of Christ as instituted at the Last Supper a sacramental act that we will partake of in just a few moments. It also represents the sharing of the table with Christ. We believe that that Eucharist is a means of God bestowing his grace upon us in a direct way. Because of this we believe that all baptized Christians should be allowed to take communion without exception. For one to wish to take communion they must be under the work of the Holy Spirit (Prevenient grace) or no such desire would exist. We are not gatekeepers of the Eucharist, and this church will never deny anyone communion who willingly comes forward. At Our Lady of Walsingham, you do not have to tick the boxes off the checklist prior to mass in order to be worthy to receive. If we all waited to be worthy to receive the Eucharist, we would have to cut out the communion portion of the service because there is not a single person in attendance today who is worthy to receive. That is kind of the point.

Our Lady of Walsingham Anglican Church is an Inclusive church. As an inclusive church We believe that all the members of the human race have been created equal, in the image of God, and therefore promote inclusiveness in our church and throughout our worldwide communion. As such we make no distinction as to race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, social status, profession, marital status, political belief, and culture of its members. We believe that all unions that are authentic and loving, between two mature human beings, should be respected and blessed in our church. No matter who you love, no matter how much money you make or put in the offering, you are welcome at Our Lady of Walsingham. Our church is a safe space for those who, not unlike myself or my family, has experienced trauma at the hands of our religious leaders and our denominations. We are all on this journey together and we are going to walk through it together and support each other.

Our Lady of Walsingham is an Anglican church. What does that mean? It means that our structure, theology, and form of worship, is commonly understood as a distinct Christian tradition representing a middle ground between what are perceived to be the extremes of the claims of 16th century Roman Catholicism and the Lutheran and Reformed varieties of Protestantism of that era. As such, Anglicanism is often referred to as being a via media (or “middle way”) between the Roman Catholic and Reformation traditions. Anglicanism gives you the best of both worlds. It gives you the beauty of a liturgy that has been handed down over the centuries, but it also gives a voice to the people. This is not a top down led church, it is a church where the clergy and the laity work hand in hand in order to accomplish the work that God has called us to do.

In our church we use the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) which is one of the ties that bind the Anglican Free Communion together. That means on any given weekend we have members of our communion joining united in prayer celebrating the same liturgy that we are celebrating together today.

It is in the Book of Common Prayer that we find our charge to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.” And it is in the Book of Common Prayer that we are united as one body in the Anglican Free Communion International.

As a church planter it is exciting to be able to establish a community of believers who share in this call and who are willing to take up this charge together to build up the kingdom of God.

Let us pray,

Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our bishops, and other clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace: and, that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008). [2] Episcopal Church. The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church : Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David According to the Use of the Episcopal Church. New York :Seabury Press, 1979.