Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you,
and formed you:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect you.
I call you by name, you are mine.”
Almighty God, beloved heavenly Father, through Holy Baptism You have made us Your children and heirs of Your kingdom, grant us Your Holy Spirit, so that we, having died to sin, may live faithfully in a new life with Jesus Christ, who together with You and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wanton and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have laboured so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all. Of thy great mercy let me be absolved, and of thy bountiful goodness let me be delivered from the bonds of all that by my frailty I have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.
Dobberstein Pg.33
Then Jesus appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him resurrected.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”
Gospel of St. Mark 16:14-18
]]>You were before your day of birth,
Indeed from your conception,
Condemned and lost with all the earth,
None good without exception.
For like your parents’ flesh and blood
Turned inward from the highest good
You constantly denied Him.But all of that was washed away
Immersed and drowned forever.
The water of your Baptism
Restored again whatever
Old Adam and his sin destroyed
And all our sinful selves employed
According to our nature.In baptism we put on Christ
Our shame is fully covered
With all that He once sacrified
And freely for us suffered
For here the flood of His own blood
Now makes us holy, right, and good
Before our heavenly Father.O Christian, firmly hold this gift
And give God thanks forever!
It gives the power to the uplift
In all that you endeavor.
When nothing else revives your soul,
Your baptism stands and makes you whole
And then in death completes you.So use it well! You are made new,
Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) translated by Jon D. Vicker
In Christ a new creation!
As faithful Christians live and do
Within your own vocation!
Until that day when you possess
His glorious robe of righteousness
Bestowed on you forever.