As we approach our 50th Anniversary as a congregation at our current location next year, I wonder about the value of major lifetime milestones like birthdays, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Having just celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and enjoying the time spent with cousins, I was struck by the reality I may never see some of these people again. How time flies when we are busy living Christian lives!
A milestone is a marker intended to indicate progress or achievement. But I wonder whether our 50th is a milestone leading us forward, or a millstone binding us to the past. Of course, it is both. I must confess, I am hyper-sensitive to the rewriting of historical narratives of Texas and Christianity. I am at least 4th generation native Texan and Christian, and with dismay I observe society trying to change the name of the state capital, and remove God and Christ from everything. As statues are removed and streets renamed to purge our history of slavery and Christianity, or any other undesirable truth for that matter, we lose the context of what made us who we are today, as Christians, as Texans, as Americans, and as humans.
For this reason, both baptism and the Lord’s Supper are critically important to remember. Jesus himself said, “Let it be so now, to fulfill all righteousness,” and “Do this in remembrance of me.” Furthermore, we should not forget, “The winner writes the history,” and as hard as mankind may try to re-write the narrative, at the end of it all, God wins.
Grace & Peace, Charles.