Πέμπτη 18 Ιανουαρίου 2018

RWANDA: NEW BIRTH... ENTERING THE KINGDOM

Titus Twungubumwe

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NEW BIRTH: ENTERING THE KINGDOM
Early in His ministry Jesus revealed the way to enter God's eternal Kingdom. We must be "born again" (John 3:3), a birth from above brought about the water and the Spirit.
In His conversation with Nicodemus, Christ states: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God"(John 3:5). From the beginning the Church has recognized "water" to be the waters of baptism, "the Spirit" to be the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the new birth is being joined to Christ in the water of the baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit through anointing or "chrismation."
Throughout their letters the apostles remind us that the new birth is necessary for salvation. We die to sin; then buried with Christ and risen with Him, we are united to Christ and to His body, the Church. We are cleansed, justified and sanctified-all in baptism, "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). Without our repentance and faith, however, immersion in water would be of no effect.
Some Christians bypass baptism and stress only faith. Why is the mystery of water necessary? Because just as Christ actually died on a cross, was buried, and rose again-all through His faith and God's grace-so we must be actually immersed in the sacramental waters of baptism, made effectual through our faith and God's grace.
The basic form of baptism is simple. The person to be born again, joined to Christ, is immersed in the water three times in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). One first-century document teaches, "If you do not have running water, use whatever is available. And if you cannot do it in cold water, use warm. But if you have neither, pour water on the head three times-in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles [The Didaché], 7: 1-3)
In the new birth, a true mystery takes place. For in the sacrament of baptism, we die, going down into the water to be mystically united to Christ in His death, and we live again, rising up out of the water in His resurrected humanity. In short, we are born again.
With the blessing of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria and All Africa, on Epiphany 2018, His Eminence Innocentios Byakatonda, the Bishop of the Holy Orthodox Diocese of Burundi and Rwanda, has baptized more than 120 catechumen on Muhazi Lake, Eastern Province of Rwanda. On that day of celebration of the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, 20 people of the Orthodox Community of Mount Fumbwe-Nyagasambu, in Rwamagana District, were also happy to receive the sacraments of initiation after 2 years of catechism: Baptism, Chrismation and Eucharist (Holy Communion).
The 3 initiation Sacraments are the means by which a person actually enters the Kingdom of God in the Church. Our creed states: "We confess one baptism for the remission of sins". Chrismation is the sacrament by which Jesus anoints and seals us with His Holy Spirit so that we might know, love, and serve God in the power of the Spirit. The Eucharist is the symbol of Christ's very body and blood. It reveals and communicates Jesus' full and mystical presence with us. The Eucharist is a new communion of men and women in one divine and human life.
Almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the "One, Holy, Catholic [from the Greek καθολική, or "according to the whole"] and Apostolic Church". The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church.
The Sacrament of Baptism in the Orthodox Church is administered by immersion in the water according to the Baptism of Jesus in Jordan and in respect to the Holy Tradition. Through baptism, Orthodox Christians enter a new life of salvation through repentance, whose purpose is to share in the life of God through the work of the Holy Spirit. Christian life is a spiritual pilgrimage in which each person, through the imitation of Christ and hesychasm, cultivates the practice of unceasing prayer (often with use of the Jesus Prayer). This life occurs within the life of the church as a member of the Body of Christ.[23] It is through the fire of God's love in the action of the Holy Spirit that the Christian becomes more holy, more wholly unified with Christ, starting in this life and continuing in the next. Born in God's image, each person is called to theosis, fulfillment of the image in likeness to God. God the creator, having divinity by nature, offers each person participation in divinity by cooperatively accepting His gift of grace.
We welcome with very great happiness our sisters and brothers newly baptized in the Orthodox Church in Rwanda.
Text by:
Reader Timotheos-Tito TWUNGUBUMWE
Orthodox Communities of Mount Kigali and Mount Fumbwe-Nyagasambu

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