Welcome and Wash the Body

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.  For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  1 Corinthians 12:12-14

Paul compares the church here to a body with different parts.

The body can be a source of great pleasure, and also a lot of pain.  Relationships are the same way.  Those you are closest to can betray you the deepest.  But Paul reminds us that we are baptized into a body, into the church.  We may not despise or ignore other members.  We are to love each other, as Christ has loved us.

Today we welcome new members and baptize some of them.  It is a joyful time to remember that God washes and welcomes us.

It is also a time to remember that our calling to each other is similar.  Help each other get clean, stay clean, and get cleaner!  And receive each other lovingly.

Let us confess our own sins before Almighty God.