"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." That is how every Divine Service in the Lutheran Church begins every Sunday. But why do we begin with an invocation? In a sense, it reminds us that we are assembling in a Christian church. Not a mosque, nor a synagogue, but in a Christian church to worship the Christian God. It also reminds us of the promises made to us in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. How many times have we heard those words? And yet, they testify with
renewed freshness to our identity as children of God who’ve been
baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Baptism, we are called into communion with the Holy Trinity Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St. Paul beautifully captures the eternal significance of our baptism
into Christ when he writes to the Galatians that "as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). We are clothed
with his righteousness. Unlike the man in the parable of the wedding
feast who had no wedding garment, when we stand before our Judge on the
Last Day, we will be clothed and covered, robed in the purity of Christ.
"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Already now, in this heaven on earth we call worship, we stand with
boldness before the triune God who has claimed us and named us.
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