Dear bishop,

I’d like to share something very nice that I said today before the baptism. I asked the people who were going to be baptized if they had ever bought new clothes, and the answer was YES. I reminded them of the experience of going into a shop to look for new clothes.

After searching for a while, we finally find something that we like and we take it to the fitting room. We’re so excited and anxious to see how it will look on us that we take our clothes off without bothering with the hassle. Once we put it on and see that it looks nice on us, we take it to the cashier, pay for it and then use it freely. Now everyone can see it.

So is baptism. Of all the proposals we receive from our friends, family, the world, and from the Lord Jesus, we decide to accept His proposal. We decide to get rid of the “old clothes” off. We go into the “fitting room” (the baptism pool) and take the “old clothes” off (the old creation) with excitement, because we want to see how the “new clothes” (the new life) that He gives us will look on us.

And the best part is that we don’t need to take it to the “cashier” because He has already paid for it. Still, we need to look after it and keep it clean every day.

God bless you, and thank you for your attention.

Pastor Carlos Rocha