"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 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. Wouldn’t it be something if God’s faithful would remember that every time they heard the words of the Invocation, perhaps tracing the sign of the cross as a visible reminder?
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..
Reposted from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Website.