The season of Epiphany from Jan 6, 2012 to Feb. 22, 2012 emphasizes God making God known in the world through Jesus, the divine son. It is the gradual unfolding of the identity of Jesus and his ministry through scripture and song. It should cause us to rethink our way too as the Magi did.
Baptism of Christ – Luis Garcia
Today we celebrated Jesus’ Baptism in Mark 1:4-11 by reciting our own baptismal covenant. (Readings are here). The sermon explained 3 gifts of baptism :
1 Gift of an Opened Door. God has pierced the barrier between heaven and earth so God’s grace can engulf us. God is with us in our difficult times, our temptations, and in death.
2 Gift of the Holy Spirit. "So through the water of our own baptisms, we are reborn by the Holy Spirit, and we have the opportunity to become a new creation, just as the formless void became God’s new creation of heaven and earth, at the beginning of time in Genesis." The Holy Spirit is the creative side of God and we become part of God’s work on this planet. We walk in newness of life. The Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out as opposed to John’s repentence which only washed the sin away. As the scripture from Acts indicates we must receive the Holy Spirit to be baptized.
3 Gift of God’s blessing. As God said about Jesus, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." In our lives we rarely extend this love to our children.
In turn Catherine rebaptized us and we said the renewal of our baptism covenant:
We also celebrated several birthdays coming up this week – Betty Kunstmann, Marilyn Newman, Terri Harrison, Chris Fisher. Congratulations!
