A brilliant entrance

Memorial Moment

A brilliant entrance

"The catechumens of the ancient church were brought to baptism from a darkened and frigid room to a brilliantly lit church twinkling with a thousand candles. They were making the pilgrimage from death to life, from darkness to light, and from the tomb into Christ. They had been prepared to receive the divine Name in baptism. The baptismal waters, full of Christ, would give them that new name. Now fully identified with Christ through dying and rising with Him, they would be and have all that Christ is and does. All that the Lord hears from the angelic choirs we also hear, for they address us, who have now been named by God. How exalted we are to hear these things that angels desire to peer into. We are among the blessed whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. What a brilliant entrance it is for those who are entering the church through the washing of baptism."

Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray

Memorial Lutheran Church

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Eph. 5:14-21 (ESV)

"anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

    and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

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Cyril of Jerusalem:

“Let your mind be refined as by fire unto reverence; let your soul be forged as metal: let the stubbornness of unbelief be hammered out: let the superfluous scales of the iron drop off, and what is pure remain; let the rust of the iron be rubbed off, and the true metal remain. May God sometime show you that night, the darkness which shines like the day, concerning which it is said, ‘Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you' (Ps 139:12). Then may the gate of Paradise be opened to every man and every woman among you. Then may you enjoy the Christ-bearing waters in their fragrance. Then may you receive the name of Christ, and the power of things divine.

 “Even now, I beseech you, lift up the eye of the mind. Even now imagine the choirs of angels, and God the Lord of all sitting there, and His Only-begotten Son sitting with Him on His right hand, and the Spirit present with them; and thrones and dominions doing service, and every man of you and every woman receiving salvation. Even now let your ears ring, as it were, with that glorious sound, when over your salvation the angels shall chant, 'Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered' (Ps 32:1), when like stars of the Church you shall enter in, bright in the body and radiant in the soul.”

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 7.4-5

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Prayer:

O Christ, by gracious adoption You have given me Your own Name through the sacrament of baptism. Grant that I might believe not what I see: my own sin and weakness, but what I hear: the divine voice, saying my iniquities are forgiven and my sin is covered. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray

Memorial Lutheran Church

1 April 2022