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“Divebombed”
"They grow up so fast!" With the festival day of Epiphany now behind us, we begin to walk through the first of two "ordinary time" portions of the Christian year, fast-forwarding to the very beginnings of Jesus' adult ministry. The stretch of ordinary time that follows Epiphany does continue to open our attention to the particular ways that Jesus' identity was revealed into humanity's midst.
This weekend, we’ll gather again with John the Baptist at the banks of that ol' River Jordan, and we watch as Jesus himself comes and is baptized. In the mystery and majesty of that moment, heavens open, the Spirit descends, and a voice reveals God's declaration of just who Jesus is: "my Son," "the beloved," the one with whom God is "well pleased."
While the baptism Jesus underwent was not exactly the same as our own Christian baptism, this day gives us a great opportunity to reflect upon and give thanks for our own baptisms, our initiation into the body of Christ and to ministry in Christ's name. As a part of our worship service, we’ll have a Rite of Baptismal Remembrance, and we’ll remember and rejoice in God’s floods of grace washing over us!