The Best Day of My Life

I suppose that when I declare a day to be the best day of my life, or, the worst day of my life, I should qualify it by adding the phrase, “so far.”

A week and a half ago, I surprised myself a bit, when I heard myself say to my uncle, “Today was the worst day of my life.”

It was.  My brother and I moved Mom into assisted living.  We did it with her permission but against her will.  Such is the torture of Alzheimer’s.

The facility is really quite beautiful.  The staff is caring.  But, Mom didn’t understand.  She was confused.  She was scared.  She was somewhat angry, but mostly just very, very sad.  And, the look in her eyes said to me and my brother, “This is your fault.”

Every life has lots of bad days.  This was the worst day of my life.  So far.  The very real possibility of a day in my life far worse than last Wednesday exists.

What has been the worst day of your life, so far?  It can be pretty painful to recall.  Tears can come quickly to your eyes just thinking about that day.

In the life of every individual there will be worst days.  But, let’s consider something more cheerful.  What has been the best day of your life, so far?

Can you recall the date?  I can.  I’ve had some really good ones!

The day I got my driver’s license.  The day I graduated from college.  Of course, it was a really good day on a Saturday in June of 1981.  Perhaps the best day of my life was the Sunday I was ordained.  No, it must have been the day my son was born.

Well, these were all very fine days in my life. What was the best day of your life, so far?  A smile can come quickly to your lips as you think back on that day.

I have had many wonderful days in my life, but the best day of my life was Sunday, July 10, 1955.  There has not been a better day since.  And I don’t have to add, “so far,” because no day will ever be better.

That day was the day that I was baptized the waters of the font of Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Detroit.  The best day of my life and I have no memory of it! I was only eight weeks old.

But it was on my baptismal day when God called me by name in the pastor’s voice as he said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  It was the day that I was proclaimed to be then and forever more beloved and worthy.

This past week, the pastors of our Central Conference gathered for their monthly meeting.  As part of the meeting, they gather in the sanctuary and share Holy Communion.  There is always a brief homily but this week it was briefer than most.  It was my brother’s turn to preach.

The sermon went something like this.  Jesus was baptized.  God’s voice said, “You are my beloved child.  With you I am well pleased.”

My brother then asked his colleagues, “Is God pleased with you?”  There was a long pause.

He ended the silence saying, “As a baptized child of God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, God loves you, and God is pleased with you.”

That was it.  A statement of fact.  A statement of our faith.  There will never be a better day in your life than the day you were baptized.

Our church, the ELCA is now 25 years old.  The anniversary year theme is this:  We are a church that is deeply rooted—and always being made new.  It is based upon a passage from 2 Corinthians which begins, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

I really like how this new creation has been described by the ELCA:  We are being made new every day.  In Jesus Christ we are not unchanged.  What God does in Christ is as radical as the death and resurrection of baptism, where new creatures in Christ rise to live “no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.”  God is bringing that new creation to life among us in the ministry of reconciliation.  In that service we no longer see each other as we did before.  We are no longer strangers, competitors, or enemies to each other.  We are beloved companions in one body, restored to a communion where the rich diversity of our experiences, wisdom and abilities serve the common good in Christ.  The new creation in Christ rises to life among us every day.

I was changed on the day that I was baptized.  It was the best day of my life.  In your baptism you were not left unchanged either.  You were forgiven, redeemed, and given salvation.  God called you, named you, and declared you to be beloved.  In Christ you were made new and marked as one with whom God is well pleased.  --JC