Romans 6:3-11

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

There are moments when a group has been working together that someone speaks truth, and others listen. After Paulette read this lesson, it was Mrs. P who gave us words to ponder in our hearts:

“Everything that we do is really there for God to help us. It isn’t that God wants to punish us; we might think that way but when we die to sin, we are asking for God to help us. God has given us every opportunity to know what it is to be pure, to have a relationship with God. But you have to get yourself out of the way!”

We took a moment there in the group to name the ways we each can stand in the way of God’s pull to turn from death to life, and the joys when we remember God’s presence with us and in the wise words of Mrs. P, get ourselves out of the way!

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