This Sunday looked a little different.

There was no sermon to take notes from or passage to revisit. Instead, we celebrated a baby dedication, witnessed three baptisms, and looked ahead to where we're going next together with our new series, Called to Be.

And through all of it, one word seemed to keep surfacing:

Response.

A family choosing to dedicate their child and inviting their church family to walk alongside them.

Three people stepping into the waters of baptism, each arriving there through a different story.

And all of us being invited to consider where the Spirit may be leading us next.

Three Stories. Three Responses.

Something beautifully simple was in the reasons shared before each baptism.

For one, baptism was about “taking the next step of faith.”

For another, having been baptized as a child, it was now about choosing baptism as a decision for myself.

And another spoke about obedience, while looking back over difficult seasons and recognizing that through it all, God's presence had been there, and in some of those hardest moments, the presence of Jesus had been especially real.

Different stories. Different journeys. Different reasons for arriving at that moment.

But each required a response.

And maybe that's worth carrying with us beyond Sunday:

What is my next step?

Not someone else's. Not the step I took five years ago. What might faithfulness look like for me now?

That brings us rather naturally to where we're heading next.

As we prepare to begin Called to Be, let's carry two questions into the week:

Who is God calling us to become?

Where is the Church today?

Maybe don't answer them too quickly.

Is the Church somewhere we go? Is it what happens when we gather on Sunday? Or does the Church continue into Monday morning, our homes, workplaces, relationships and community?

And perhaps Sunday's baptisms give us a place to begin.

The Spirit is still moving. Jesus is still present in people's stories. People are still responding.

So this week, pay attention.

Where do you see God at work?
Where might He be inviting you to take your next step?

Looking Ahead

Next Sunday, we begin Called to Be.

The book of Acts may have ended, but the story of the Church didn't.

The same Spirit who moved through the early Church is still moving today.

Who is God calling us to become?
And where is the Church today?