God made the earth with His hands. Then He made our first parents, breathing new life into their clay bodies. When the Church rebelled, our heavenly Father sent His Son, the Word, who became clay Himself. Now another breath of fresh air, as it were, the Holy Spirit, builds and enlivens the Church by water and the Word. God has made us, and by the Holy Spirit’s use of Baptism, has remade us as well. We are people judged worthy for Jesus’ sake, people who have heard the Gospel, people sent out with the news everyone needs. The promise is sure that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). And by that promise, God builds His living house.