Bookends

In the space of seven days, we are going to celebrate both Baptism and Communion, the two central sacraments of the Christian church.

Yesterday, we baptized twenty-three folks, celebrating that most ancient of Christian rituals - the outward declaration of an inward transformation and public identification with Jesus Christ.


Next week we'll talk about and remember Communion together, "celebrating" in the language of nails and blood and sweat and pain.

At Next Level, we are dead determined to pillage contemporary culture (and I chose that word "pillage" with great intentionality) for spiritual meaning and to use everything in that rapidly-changing culture that we can to couch a timeless message.

(Always with utter intentionality, by the way...in spite of the occasional attack on NLC - OK, more than occasional - in the Christian blogosphere, I don't give a rat's left - well rat's left anything- about being either "cool" or "relevant").

But we are always mindful that we are in a LONG line of tradition and history that we revere and celebrate.

Baptism and Communion don't get people killed in Charlotte, like they have gotten people killed in countless towns over the last two thousand years.

But they are - joyfully so - matters of life and death.

Next Level Church- Baptism (May 17, 2009) from NextLevelChurch on Vimeo.