Holy as I Am Holy — The Blood of the Lamb

How this session works

This session traces the trajectory of holiness from the dietary laws of Leviticus 11, through the ethical holiness code of Leviticus 19, to the transformation announced by Jesus in Mark 7, the inclusion of the Gentiles in Acts 10, and the universalized command in 1 Peter 1. By the end we will understand why baptized Christians, Gentiles who never observed the food laws, are now summoned to holiness with the very same words God spoke to Israel at Sinai. A teacher's edition with answers is available on request at [email protected].

Opening Prayer

Almighty God, You are holy, and You have called Your Church to be holy. By the blood of Jesus Christ, You have cleansed us from all uncleanness and made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Your own special people. Grant that we may see in the purity laws of Leviticus the shadow of that holiness which is now ours in Christ, and teach us to live as those who have been set apart for Your service. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Opening and Framing: The Alien Texts

No portion of the Torah is more alien to modern readers than the purity regulations of Leviticus. Lists of clean and unclean animals, rules about skin diseases, instructions for cleansing houses, regulations about bodily discharges: these texts seem archaic, hygienically motivated, and utterly disconnected from the spiritual life Christians claim to pursue. Many believers quietly treat Leviticus 11–15 as an embarrassment, tolerable as ancient history and irrelevant for life in Christ.

This session will argue that such dismissal misses something essential. The clean and unclean distinction was not a primitive health code. It was a daily, embodied curriculum in holiness. Through the most basic elements of physical existence, what you eat, what you touch, how you wash, God taught Israel at the visceral level that there is a fundamental distinction between what belongs to Him and what does not. The purity laws are not about hygiene; they are about identity.

The central question: what does it mean to be holy? How do the categories of clean and unclean shape the New Testament understanding of the Church's identity and mission?

Question 1

Leviticus 16 opened with the death of Nadab and Abihu as a warning about unauthorized approach to God's holiness. As we move from the Day of Atonement to the broader purity system, why do you think God embedded holiness categories into the most basic elements of daily life, food, touch, and bodily functions, rather than restricting holiness concerns to the sanctuary alone?

Question 2

The word "holy" (Hebrew qadosh) fundamentally means "set apart" or "cut off from common use." The opposite of holy is not "sinful" but "common" (Hebrew hol). How does this understanding of holiness as distinction rather than merely moral perfection change how you read the purity laws? What was God teaching Israel about their identity among the nations?

Framing statement

This session will trace the trajectory of holiness from the dietary laws of Leviticus 11, through the ethical holiness code of Leviticus 19, to the radical transformation announced by Jesus in Mark 7, the inclusion of the Gentiles in Acts 10, and the universalized command in 1 Peter 1. By the end, we will understand why baptized Christians, Gentiles who never observed the food laws, are now summoned to holiness with the very same words God spoke to Israel at Sinai: "Be holy, for I am holy."

Key vocabulary

Holy (qadosh): set apart, distinct, belonging exclusively to God. The root carries the sense of being cut off from common use and consecrated for sacred purpose.

Clean (tahor): the state of being fit for contact with sacred things and for participation in worship. Ritual cleanness is not moral purity but ceremonial fitness.

Unclean (tameʾ): the state of being unfit for contact with sacred things. Uncleanness is not sinful in itself; it is a condition requiring prescribed cleansing before approaching the holy.

Common or profane (hol): ordinary, belonging to everyday life rather than to sacred use. The opposite of qadosh. Not inherently bad, but not consecrated.

Part One: The Clean and the Unclean, Leviticus 11

The dietary laws represent God's embodied curriculum in holiness. Every meal became a confession of identity: "We are the people who belong to the Holy One."

A. The criteria for clean animals (11:1–8)

✛ Read aloud: Leviticus 11:1–8

"And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.'"

Leviticus 11:1–3, ESV

Key Hebrew terms

Nebelah: carcass or dead body. Touching the nebelah of an unclean animal instantly defiled an Israelite, making him or her unfit to enter the tabernacle.

Tahor and tameʾ: the foundational distinction between ritually clean and unclean. This is not about hygiene but about fitness for contact with the holy.

The Hebrew text of verse 3 is intensely literal and physical: the animal must be one that "hoofs a hoof" (has hooves) and "splits a split of hoofs" (is completely cloven-footed), and also "brings up the cud." Four specific animals are listed as borderline cases: the camel, rock badger, and hare chew cud but lack split hooves; the pig has split hooves but does not chew cud. The pig is singled out as completely forbidden.

Question 3

The distinction between clean and unclean animals appears arbitrary at first glance. Scholars have proposed various explanations, including hygiene, ecological suitability, and rejection of pagan practices, but the text itself does not explain why these particular animals are distinguished. Given that the text emphasizes purpose rather than rationale, what does the lack of explanation suggest about the nature of obedience God was cultivating in Israel?

Question 4

Leviticus 11:8 commands not only to avoid eating unclean flesh but also to avoid touching their carcasses. This meant that everyday activities, farming, traveling, and disposing of dead animals, carried constant liturgical implications. How does this pervasive awareness of purity categories shape a community's consciousness differently than laws that apply only in sacred spaces?

B. The theological ground: "Be holy, for I am holy" (11:44–45)

✛ Read aloud: Leviticus 11:44–45

"For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."

Leviticus 11:44–45, ESV

Key Hebrew terms

Hithqaddesh (Hithpael stem): the Hebrew verb for "sanctify yourselves" is reflexive, indicating an action done to oneself. Yet Israel did not generate their own holiness; they sanctified themselves by participating in the divinely instituted rites through which God shared His holiness with them.

Tihyu qedoshim ("you shall be holy"): the Hebrew uses the imperfect tense, which functions simultaneously as a statement of fact ("you are holy"), a promise ("you will be holy"), and a command ("you shall be holy"). This is the grammar of grace: God had already sanctified Israel; they were called to maintain that gifted status.

The theological ground of all the purity regulations is contained in these verses. The food laws were not about diet; they were about identity. Every meal became a declaration: "We are the people who belong to the Holy One." God grounds this call in His saving work: "I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God." Redemption precedes the rules. The Lord brought them out specifically so that He could reside with them and be their God.

Question 5

The grammar of Leviticus 11:44 ("You shall be holy") functions simultaneously as indicative (you are), promise (you will be), and imperative (you shall be). How does this grammar of grace shape our understanding of sanctification? Are Christians called to become holy, or to live out a holiness already given?

Question 6

God grounds the command to holiness in redemption: "I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." How does the sequence, salvation first and then the call to holiness, prevent the purity laws from becoming legalism? What happens when this sequence is reversed?

Part Two: Holiness in Daily Life, Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19 is sometimes called the holiness code in miniature. It demonstrates that holiness extends from dietary categories into the full range of ethical life.

A. The universal address (19:1–2)

✛ Read aloud: Leviticus 19:1–2

"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.'"

Leviticus 19:1–2, ESV

This is the only occasion in the book of Leviticus where God commissions Moses to speak directly to the entire congregation. Holiness is not an esoteric doctrine restricted to the elite priesthood; it is the calling and heritage of the entire community of God. The people are not expected to generate their own holiness through human works, which is an impossibility. Instead, they are called to obey God's commandments because they are already holy. God had sanctified them at Sinai and made them His treasured possession.

Question 7

Leviticus 19:1–2 is unique: it is the only place in Leviticus where God addresses "the whole congregation." What does this universal address communicate about holiness? Is holiness for specialists, or for every member of God's people?

B. From the altar to the neighbor (19:9–18)

✛ Read aloud: Leviticus 19:9–18

This passage functions as a bridge, moving the worshiper from the sacred ritual realm of the sanctuary into the moral and social realm of the everyday community. God is holy, and therefore His people are to reflect His holiness not just in how they sacrifice, but in how they treat the vulnerable.

Key Hebrew terms

Peʾah: the edge or corner of the field. Israelites were commanded not to harvest to the very edge, leaving gleanings for the poor and the resident alien. This was God's divinely instituted welfare system.

ʾAhab plus lamed ("to love"): when the verb "love" is paired with the preposition lamed, it implies more than internal feeling; it means "to act lovingly toward" or "to demonstrate love to" your neighbor.

Hokeach tokhiach (infinitive absolute plus verb): the emphatic construction in 19:17, "You shall surely reprove your neighbor." God intercepts the cycle of revenge. You must go to the offender privately. If you fail to warn your brother, you bear sin because of him.

As God lays out His social prohibitions to protect the community from abuse, the Hebrew text uses four different synonyms for one's fellow man to build a rhetorical climax. The text moves from compatriot (19:11–12) to neighbor (19:13–14) to kinsfolk (19:15–16) and finally to brother (19:17). This deliberate structure highlights God's desire to extend the deep love and loyalty of the immediate blood family to the entire liturgical community.

Question 8

Leviticus 19:9–10 commands leaving the edges of fields and fallen grapes for the poor and the resident alien. This was God's welfare system built into agricultural practice. How does embedding care for the poor into the rhythms of daily labor differ from charity as an occasional, separate act?

Question 9

The progression of terms for "fellow man" in 19:11–17 moves from compatriot to neighbor to kinsfolk to brother. What is the rhetorical effect of this progression? What is God teaching about how His people should regard one another?

C. The Royal Law (19:18)

✛ Read aloud: Leviticus 19:18

"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."

Leviticus 19:18, ESV

Leviticus 19:18 is arguably the most frequently quoted Pentateuchal passage in the New Testament. Jesus pairs it with the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5) as the summary of the entire Law (Matthew 22:39–40). Paul declares that the entire Second Table of the Decalogue is summed up in this single word (Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14). James elevates it to the status of the Royal Law (James 2:8), the supreme law of Christ's kingdom.

Question 10

Jesus cites Leviticus 19:18 as the second greatest commandment, equal in importance to loving God (Matthew 22:39–40). He declares that the entirety of the Law and the Prophets "hangs" on these two commands. Why can love for God not be separated from love for neighbor? What happens when someone claims to love God while mistreating his or her neighbor?

Question 11

In the original Levitical context, the "neighbor" primarily referred to a fellow Israelite or resident alien. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), Jesus redefines "neighbor" to include despised foreigners and outcasts. How does Jesus' expansion of "neighbor" fulfill rather than abolish Leviticus 19:18?

Part Three: The Heart of Defilement, Mark 7:14–23

Jesus relocates the locus of purity from external observance to the condition of the human heart. The shadow of Leviticus 11 is fulfilled and retired.

A. The radical declaration (7:14–19)

✛ Read aloud: Mark 7:14–19

"And he called the people to him again and said to them, 'Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.' … And he said to them, 'Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?' (Thus he declared all foods clean.)"

Mark 7:14–15, 18–19, ESV

Key Greek terms

Koinoo: to defile or make common. In the Levitical system, to be common meant being ritually marginalized and unfit for contact with the sacred sanctuary or fellowship with God's covenant people.

Katharizo: to make clean or pure. Mark's editorial comment ("thus he declared all foods clean") uses this verb, the exact antidote to koinoo. Jesus officially retires the ceremonial shadow of the Old Covenant.

Kardia: heart. Jesus points out that food cannot defile spiritually because it enters the stomach, not the heart. True defilement originates from within the human heart.

To a pious first-century Jew, Jesus' declaration was paradigm-shifting. The Maccabean martyrs had allowed themselves to be tortured to death rather than eat pork, defending the sacred purity laws of Leviticus 11. Jesus is asserting an authority greater than Moses, fundamentally changing how God's people interact with the material world.

Question 12

Mark 7:19 contains a stunning editorial comment: "Thus he declared all foods clean." The verb katharizo is the exact antidote to the Levitical concept of defilement. With this single stroke, the dietary code of Leviticus 11 is officially retired. Why does Mark make this parenthetical remark? What is he signaling to his readers about the implications of Jesus' teaching?

Question 13

Jesus contrasts the stomach (koilia) with the heart (kardia). Food enters the stomach and is expelled; it has no spiritual impact. Evil, however, originates from within the heart. What does this anatomical argument reveal about the true nature of human defilement? Why could external washings and dietary restrictions never address humanity's fundamental problem?

B. The twelve vices (7:20–23)

✛ Read aloud: Mark 7:20–23

"For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Mark 7:21–23, ESV

Jesus lists twelve specific evils that proceed from within, out of the heart of man. The first nine directly correlate to the Second Table of the Ten Commandments, sins against one's neighbor. The final three relate to the First Table, sins against God, where one makes oneself one's own idol. Jesus proves that the Pharisees were obsessed with the external shadows of Leviticus while ignoring the internal substance of the Law.

Question 14

Jesus lists twelve vices that originate from the human heart. The first nine parallel the Second Table of the Decalogue, sins against neighbor; the last three relate to the First Table, sins against God. How does this list demonstrate that Jesus is not abolishing the moral content of the Law but relocating its application from external observance to internal reality?

Question 15

The Pharisees were experts in external purity: clean hands, clean dishes, clean food. Jesus called them "whitewashed tombs" (Matthew 23:27), clean outside and corrupt within. In what ways might modern Christians be tempted toward the same externalism? What would it look like to apply Jesus' teaching to contemporary religious life?

Part Four: The Heavenly Sheet, Acts 10

The vision of the sheet containing unclean animals was never ultimately about diet; it was about people. God dismantles the boundary between Jew and Gentile.

A. The trance and the command (10:9–16)

✛ Read aloud: Acts 10:9–16

"And there came a voice to him: 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.' And the voice came to him again a second time, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.'"

Acts 10:13–15, ESV

Key Greek terms

Prospeinos: very hungry. An exceedingly rare Greek word found almost nowhere else in ancient literature, emphasizing the physical intensity of Peter's hunger that sets up the vision.

Ekstasis: trance. A state where God communicates a direct, divine vision. Peter falls into this state at the sixth hour (noon) while the midday meal is being prepared.

Thuson: kill or sacrifice. This is not the standard word for butchering; it is the technical term for sacrifice. God commands a religious, sacrificial act with formerly unclean animals.

Koinon kai akatharton ("common and unclean"): this specific phrase appears together only here in the New Testament. Peter's emphatic refusal (medamos plus oudepote, "by no means, never") underscores his lifelong faithfulness to Leviticus 11.

The heavens open, and an object like a great sheet descends containing "all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds." Under the strict dietary laws of Leviticus 11, the mixing of clean animals with unclean would render the entire sheet completely unclean. The voice's response alters the course of biblical history: "What God has made clean, do not call common." God Himself has accomplished the cleansing (aorist verb ekatharisen). This happens three times, the biblical number of divine confirmation.

Question 16

Peter vehemently refuses the command to eat, protesting that he has never eaten anything "common or unclean" (Acts 10:14). His language employs a double negative (medamos plus oudepote, "by no means, never"). What does Peter's emphatic refusal reveal about how deeply the Levitical purity laws had shaped his identity? Why did God have to repeat the vision three times?

Question 17

The Greek word for "kill" (thuson) is the technical term for sacrifice, not ordinary butchering. God is commanding Peter to treat formerly abominable animals as divine provisions. What does this sacrificial language add to our understanding of the vision? What is God teaching about the source of holiness and cleanness?

B. The true meaning: no person common or unclean (10:28)

✛ Read aloud: Acts 10:28

"And he said to them, 'You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.'"

Acts 10:28, ESV

Key Greek terms

Kollao: to associate or join on intimate terms. For a strict first-century Jew, visiting a Gentile home was a profound taboo rooted in fear of becoming ritually unclean through contact with those who did not observe the purity laws.

Anantirretos ("without objection"): a New Testament hapax legomenon, occurring only here. Despite a lifetime of strict Levitical conditioning, Peter does not argue with the Lord but abandons his prejudices and walks into a Gentile home.

Peter finally connects the dots. The vision was never ultimately about a menu; it was about people. The food laws of Leviticus 11 had functioned as a massive, visible dividing wall, preventing table fellowship between clean Israel and the unclean Gentile nations. By commanding Peter to eat what was formerly forbidden, God demonstrates that the Gentiles, formerly considered ritually unclean outcasts, are now entirely cleansed by the blood of Jesus and welcomed into full communion with God and His Church.

Question 18

Peter interprets the vision: "God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean" (Acts 10:28). The vision of animals was really about mankind. How does understanding the food laws as a dividing wall between Israel and the nations help you grasp the magnitude of what God was asking Peter to accept?

Question 19

Peter says he came to Cornelius's house "without objection" (anantirretos, 10:29), an extremely rare word emphasizing the completeness of his submission. Given his lifelong Levitical conditioning, what does Peter's obedience teach about the proper response to divine revelation, even when it overturns deeply held convictions?

Part Five: The Command Universalized, 1 Peter 1:14–16

The Apostle Peter applies the central command of Leviticus directly to Gentile Christians. The ceremonial shadow has been fulfilled; the holiness it taught remains the permanent possession of God's people.

A. Breaking from former ignorance (1:14)

✛ Read aloud: 1 Peter 1:14–16

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"

1 Peter 1:14–16, ESV

The letter of 1 Peter was addressed to predominantly Gentile churches in Asia Minor, "elect exiles of the Dispersion" scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. These believers had no ancestral connection to Sinai. They had not grown up observing the food laws or maintaining the purity regulations. Yet Peter applies to them the central command of Leviticus 11:44–45 and 19:2.

Peter does not abolish the Levitical command; he universalizes it. The Gentile churches of Asia Minor stand where Israel stood at Sinai: called to be holy because the God who called them is holy. The food laws themselves are not binding on Gentile Christians, as Acts 15 made clear, but the holiness to which the food laws pointed is binding. The external pedagogy has accomplished its purpose; the internal reality remains the permanent possession of God's people. We are freed from the dietary regulations precisely because we are bound more tightly to the holiness they taught.

Question 20

Peter urges Gentile Christians not to be "conformed to the passions of your former ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14). Before their conversion, these believers lived in spiritual blindness, lacking a compass for right and wrong. How does the language of "former ignorance" connect to the Levitical warnings against conforming to the practices of the nations (Leviticus 18:3)?

Question 21

Peter quotes Leviticus directly to Gentile Christians: "You shall be holy, for I am holy." These believers never observed the food laws, yet they receive the same command as Israel. If the specific dietary regulations no longer apply, what does this holiness look like in practice? How do we distinguish Christian freedom from moral laxity?

B. The source of holiness (1:15–16)

The concept of holy in 1 Peter carries the same meaning as in Leviticus: set apart for God. The direct opposite of holy is not simply sinful but common, something that can be used by anyone for any ordinary purpose. God calls believers by the Gospel to saving faith. They are called by a holy God, and therefore they are separated from the common world and consecrated for His exclusive use, following God's perfect standards rather than the world's patterns.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has declared believers to be holy ones, saints. In Baptism, the Christian is made alive by the Holy Spirit and granted the very holiness of Jesus. Peter is not giving a crushing legalistic demand. He is telling Christians to live out their baptismal identity. Though we remain sinners, we are simultaneously saints who have been justified by Christ, and God now actively empowers us to strive against the world and the devil.

Question 22

The opposite of "holy" is not merely "sinful" but "common," belonging to ordinary, everyday use rather than being consecrated for God. How does understanding holiness as set-apartness rather than moral perfection change the way you think about your own calling as a Christian?

Question 23

Peter is writing to churches made up largely of former pagans who had been "washed, sanctified, justified" in Baptism (compare 1 Corinthians 6:11). His command to be holy is not a demand to become something new but a call to live out what they already are in Christ. How does Baptism connect you personally to the holiness commands of Leviticus and to the cleansing blood of Christ?

Synthesis and Closing

The trajectory traced in this session moves from external pedagogy to internal reality, from Israel to the nations, from dietary categories to ethical holiness.

Summary table for reflection

Levitical element	Fulfilled in Christ	Scripture
Dietary laws as identity markers	All foods declared clean; holiness relocated to the heart	Mark 7:14–23
Dividing wall between Israel and nations	Gentiles declared clean; nations welcomed into covenant	Acts 10:9–16, 28
Holiness command to Israel alone	Holiness universalized to all baptized believers	1 Peter 1:14–16
Love your neighbor as yourself (19:18)	The Royal Law; neighbor expanded to include all people	Matthew 22:39–40; Romans 13:9; James 2:8
External ritual purification	Christ's blood purifies the conscience	Hebrews 9:13–14

Final discussion

✛ Read aloud once more: 1 Peter 1:14–16

Question 24

The purity laws taught Israel that holiness touches every dimension of physical life: food, skin, clothing, houses. What is lost when Christians treat holiness as a purely spiritual or interior category with no connection to bodily life? How might we recover a more embodied understanding of what it means to be set apart for God?

Question 25

We have traced the trajectory from Levitical dietary categories, through Jesus' relocation of purity to the heart, to Peter's vision, and finally to the universalized command in 1 Peter. If you had to summarize this entire movement in one sentence, what would it be? What is the central message of this session?

Liturgical, Lectionary, and Hymnic Connections

Where these texts appear in the life of the Church.

Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19:1–2, 15–18 is the appointed Old Testament reading for Proper 25 in Series A. The text, including the commands "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" and "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," teaches the ethic of holiness that flows from God's character. Leviticus 19:9–18 (18:1–5) is the appointed Old Testament reading for Proper 10 in Series C.

Mark 7:14–23

Mark 7:14–23 is the appointed Holy Gospel for Proper 17 in Series B. Jesus' teaching that true defilement comes from within the human heart rather than from external foods connects directly to the Offertory, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51). True purity cannot come from within oneself; it must be miraculously created by God through the forgiveness of sins.

1 Peter

The First Epistle of Peter is read semi-continuously throughout the season of Easter (Series A). During Eastertide, these Epistles serve as mystagogical catechesis, ongoing instruction for the newly baptized. When Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44 ("You shall be holy, for I am holy") in 1 Peter 1:14–16, he applies the Old Testament mandate directly to the baptized Christian.

Hymn selections

LSB 594 — God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It

This baptismal hymn celebrates the cleansing received in Holy Baptism, connecting the believer to Christ's death and resurrection. The holiness that was once Israel's exclusive possession is now the heritage of every baptized Christian.

LSB 655 — Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word

Luther's hymn prays for preservation in the Word that makes us holy, echoing the Levitical truth that holiness flows from God's revelation and presence.

LSB 842 — Son of God, Eternal Savior

Expresses the ethical dimension of holiness from Leviticus 19: caring for the poor, loving the neighbor, and reflecting God's character in social life.

LSB 433 — Glory Be to Jesus

Celebrates the blood that cleanses the sinner, the fountain of grace that accomplishes what the Levitical washings could only foreshadow.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, heavenly Father, You have called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light. You have washed us in the waters of Baptism and declared us holy by the blood of Your Son. Teach us to live as those who have been set apart for Your service, loving our neighbors as ourselves and reflecting Your holy character in all our conduct. Keep us from the passions of our former ignorance, and by Your Spirit empower us to walk worthily of our calling. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

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