I’ve always been fascinated to hear people talking about “going into the ministry.” I understand it, to be sure, but when I think about it, that is a phrase that should be absolutely foreign to us who are in the Reformed and Presbyterian branch of God’s Church. After all, we believe that we all are called by God to ministries of some sort or another. And that call is symbolized in our baptisms. As a sacrament, baptism is, as St. Augustine in the 4th century put it, “an outward, visible sign of an inward, invisible grace.” That which is outward and visible is the water – just as in Communion that which is outward and visible is the juice and bread. That which is inward and invisible in baptism is God’s sovereign, creative call upon our lives and God’s absolute, unwavering love for us. Not a bad deal, is it? We get a little bit of water; we are reminded of an abundance of love and grace!

I love great quotes. Every once in a while, someone will say or write something that just captures exactly what needs to be said in exactly the right way. That’s one of the reasons I shared in the last newsletter some of the quotes I had come across from Andy Rooney. The only problem with my page in that issue of our newsletter, as someone pointed out to me last week, is that, had Andy Rooney read my page, he probably would have quoted Mark Twain: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” I probably will not again refer to “the late Andy Rooney”… at least not until after he’s actually died! As the kids today say: “My bad!”