Water and Wine

What a weekend of celebration! Three of our community were baptized – Bella, Taylor and Keifer– and we marked time with a Feast of Restoration to benefit Coffee Oasis. What deep joy we all felt as such a natural response to God’s love! God promises us that baptism and feasting are two of the ways we will most deeply tangibly feel his grace.

Think about how God promised us he would be with us and how he showed up with his people over and over again in Scripture: 

A path through split waters and a feast through broken bread

Water and Wine

Salvation and Provision

Baptism and Communion

God knew that we needed as people tangible experiences of what is eternally true. 

“As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…”

“Whenever you eat this bread, do this in remembrance of me…”

We experience in baptism the outward cleansing that recalls our inner forgiveness; our outward declaration of “the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” that speaks to our adoption into God’s family; the cold plunge into the Sound that reminds of the burial of our old life with Christ and the rising to walk a new life with him. 
We experience at the Table the outward provision of bread and juice that reminds us of the daily, sustaining presence of Jesus that satisfies our every need. We share a feast to remember the feast that is to come. We bring what we have to contribute to remember that everything comes from the Lord, and it is right to bring it back to him.

So the gift of sharing in baptism and a feast together all in one morning! How could we possibly top that this Sunday?

We don’t have to! We can experience the ordinary means of grace just by gathering together and sharing in God’s praise, listening to God’s Spirit in the Word, and breaking the communion bread again. God’s forgiveness, his salvation, his cleansing, his provision are just as true when we meet in a cafeteria as when we plunge into the Sound and share burgers.

And if it’s Friday morning you’re reading this or Saturday evening or wherever– know the ordinary means of grace are available to you right where you are. These moments of distinct celebrations become memorials for us, places and times that we call to mind to remember what is true all the time: you are loved; you belong; you have been forgiven. 

This is who we are– a people of worship, feasting, expectancy, hospitality– because it is who Jesus is and who is making us. I love this community, this Kitsap House family. Thank you for celebrating this week and keeping on with extending the love of God as you’re going in your neighborhood today. 

That all may know,

Megan