Sharing Our Lives

First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

God sent a great earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundation. The doors flew open and their bonds released. But Paul and Silas did not immediately flee the jail. They waited to meet the jailer. He was terrified at what would happen to him if his prisoners escaped. Paul shared with him the gospel, and the jailer became a believer. That night the very essence of the church of Jesus Christ was revealed. Two washings occurred. In love and gratitude for his newfound salvation, the jailer washed the wounds of Paul and Silas. And Paul washed the jailer and his whole family by baptizing them, symbolically joining them to Jesus and his cleansing of our sins. So a picture of the church of Jesus came into focus: we are a wound-washing community. We wash minds and bodies broken in so many tragic ways. In the power of the Spirit, we wash dirty souls with the gospel news of Christ’s forgiveness and grace.