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LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 80

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

hospital with their newborn child was to the church to have that
baby baptized? How many of you have pious grandparents in your
congregations who prod their children to get their grandchildren
baptized? How many of you pastors have taken your own child in
your arms to the baptismal font and been overwhelmed by God’s
love in that moment? The unbaptized are all around us wherever we
live. This text calls each of us to have this kind of parental passionate
concern for the unbaptized because our heavenly Father loves them
all, and all of heaven erupts with joy over each one who repents.
Jesus did not finish His earthly ministry and then say, “Well, I’ve
done my part. The rest is up to you guys.” No, He promised, “And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus certainly
continues to be present with us in the Lord’s Supper, but His real
presence goes beyond this Sacrament. When the divine name of
the Holy Trinity was invoked upon you as the water was poured,

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2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

the Spirit was given who joined you to the Son, and when you were
joined to the Son, you were also given access to the Father. When
His name is put on you in Baptism, the one true God is with you
for the long haul, a presence nurtured by His Word and at His
Table. You are in Christ and part of His Body, and He is in you.
You are temples in whom Christ dwells even as the preincarnate
Lord dwelt in the tabernacle and temple of Israel. He was present
with you the moment you were baptized and continues to be with
you every moment of your life, empowering your witness to all
nations and bringing of others to the font for His gifts, until that
moment when in resurrected glory, we all behold the face of the
God who put His name on us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

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