Baptized with Christ

Greetings,

The Season of Epiphany.  The manifestation of God in Jesus Christ.

      We now enter into what we used to call the Epiphany season, though modern liturgy experts insist we call this period “ordinary time.”  (We good old Protestant/United Methodist types know that it’s the season of Epiphany and then later, Pentecost, and Kingdomtide.  There is no “ordinary” in what God has created, and every Sunday is a special celebration of the Resurrection and of what God is doing in this particular time!)   But first, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord on the Sunday after Epiphany. 

      Almost twenty years ago Nathan Mitchell wrote:

      “We are urged to move quickly beyond the intimate scene of Jesus’ birth toward the more challenging vision of his baptism.  In short, we are asked to move in the direction of life itself: from concern for intimacy to concern for community.

      “A Christian parish becomes its best self when it accepts the challenge of community.  The parish community, as the real expression of a local church, cannot limit its attention to the search for justice and intimacy among its own members; it must be prepared to take up the cross, standing against evil and injustice wherever they exist in the world.  This may seem like a harsh message for the Christmas season, but in fact it is the church’s message at all times, in all seasons.  There is, ultimately, only one mystery Christians celebrate: the paschal mystery, Jesus’ dying and rising in a new human community called ‘church.’”

      No congregation can truly lay claim to the title Christian if it is not proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, which means following Christ in the great commission to “make disciples of all nations [the Biblical word for all those outside the covenant with God], baptizing them…and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).  In following Jesus we understand that it is the Cross which is the true means of Baptism.  In taking up the Cross (which means making genuine sacrifice) we are plunged into the depths, die, with him in order to be raised with him.  We can only teach to obey when we ourselves are being obedient.  And what did Jesus command us: to love one another as he has loved us (which means to sacrifice everything for the benefit of others); and to care for even the least of our society as we would care for him personally (Matthew 25).

      The Baptism of our Lord reminds us that it is not enough to be sprinkled, dunked or poured upon.  We must be plunged into the depths with him so that, in the words of the communion liturgy, “we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us…”  Rejoice, give thanks, and sing, if not with you voice, at least with your heart, for we have the opportunity to share in Christ’s sacrifice, and resurrection, and ongoing work for the healing and salvation of all people.

Yours & His,

DED