Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
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October has always been on of my favorite months of the year. I love the chilly mornings, the brisk fall breeze, the beauty of the leaves as they change colors; ducks are flying, deer are rutting, the fishing is fantastic! You all know that summer isn't my favorite season; it's just too hot. I LOVE winter, the wind and snow and ice, but even I have to admit that sometimes it lasts too long. Spring is nice, but it rains too much. Maybe I'm too picky, but I've always loved fall more than the other seasons. It's too bad that all my favorite activities are crammed into such a short period of time!
If I'm being honest, though, it's not just the weather and other activities that I love about autumn. I've begun to realize that hidden underneath my love for fall is an appreciation of the circle of life--"For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).
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It appears that King Solomon in his God-given wisdom agrees with me. (Or, maybe I agree with him?) He recognizes that the entirety of God's creation have a certain and definite time of beginning, of acting, and of ending, and that the wise grasp the rhythms of life and live in agreement with them. Everything comes and goes at the time that God has appointed, and because of human sinfulness, death is necessary in order to bring about new life.
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I think that is one of the most beautiful pictures of this occurs in the waters of Holy Baptism. A child, born sinful by nature, is brought to the font; the old Adam is drowned, and "God's precious son or daughter is born again by Word and water" (LSB 593, stanza 4).
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This fall, as you enjoy all the season has to offer, remember the wonderful gift you received in baptism, and maybe even recall those words of Martin Luther you learned in Confirmation class: "Baptism indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever."
Baptized into Christ, you are a child of paradise. ​​God's richest blessings!
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Pastor M. <t><
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