Sunday 11th January: 11am Sung Mass and Children’s Sunday School
The oldest object in St Benet’s Church is, in fact, the font. It is the only thing left from an earlier church which had to be pulled down in the 1930s. That font, older than the building which surrounds it, is the place where generations of Kentish Town inhabitants have been baptized.
The place of baptism is one of the most important pivots of our community. It’s a place that connects us with the generations of Christians who have gone before us, and with the millions of Christians who live in other countries in the far flung corners of our globe. That’s because it’s the place where we receive a new identity – our Christian identity.
When we are baptized, we cease to be the person we were before. We are born again as a child of God. We are incorporated into Christ. We become part of the Body of Christ. Whatever identity the world might give us, be that family, or class, or ethnic origin, or wealth, or sexuality, or language, or nationality, we receive a bigger, better identity which trumps all that. The new identity we receive, which is prior and superior to all human categories and labels, is our identity in Christ. Before all else, we are a child of God, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Join us today for our 11am Sung Mass to celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Baptism, and to think more about the consequences that Christian identity should have for our lives.