Rose Sunday

But if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with him.
-Romans 6:8

This weekend offers a special Sunday in the life of the Church and All Saints’ specifically. While for the wider Church it is known as Rose Sunday, at All Saints’ we will mark it as the first corporate baptism in over a year. Baptisms are not only a joyous moment for the candidate, but for the entire Church as they remind us of our need to die to ourselves daily, and rise anew to a life in Christ. In some parts of the Church, this idea was reinforced by holding the candidate under the water until they nearly drowned. As they struggled to hold their breath, they would eventually burst through the water breathing in a breath of new life, often considered to be the breath Christ last breathed on the cross (Luke 23:46) or the breath of the Holy Spirit Christ breathes out on the disciples (John 20:21-22). While Sunday’s baptism will not be as dramatic, it will certainly be one in which we are reminded of the new life in Christ we have received. Let us pray that Bradford might experience this breath of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, and that each breath we take might be as sweet, empowering, and life giving as that at our baptism.

-Reverend Michael Sahdev

Let Us Pray…

Lord, we thank you for the precious gift of baptism, and for the new life in Christ that transforms the world. Lord, we ask for your goodness and blessings to be poured out on Bradford this Sunday, and for each of us as we recall our own baptism. We pray that you would work deeply within the hearts and souls of our All Saints’ family, renewing and refreshing us each day. Amen.