Whiteboard: Baptism

We've just come off of the celebration of Christ's birth at Christmas. We had a special Christmas Eve Worship Service complete with a "No Rehearsal Christmas Pageant" and on the Sunday right after that we stressed that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" means that we cannot limit the wonders of Christ's birth to one single, solitary day. Indeed Christmas is not the end of the journey, but the very beginning. Then we had Epiphany Sunday where I challenged everyone to "be more than Magi." 

Now we've put up all our Christmas decorations, we've sent off the Wisemen from the East, and we are girding ourselves up for life as usual. In fact, the highfalutin, churchy technical word this coming Sunday is "Ordinary Time." We have a great big block of "Ordinary Time" in the summer (it is that long block of Sundays that goes from Pentecost clear until Advent), but we have a shorter stretch of "Ordinary Time right now (it connects Epiphany and Lent). The first story that we encounter in "Ordinary Time" is the story of Jesus' baptism. 

Here's the thing: In the early church the celebration of Christ's Baptism was the biggest Sunday of the year.

Funny how times change, isn't it? 

In fact, Jesus' baptism is no ordinary event. It is a miraculous, amazing, transformative time that is filled with the work of Holy Spirit and revelatory of God's grace. And I dare say, every baptism in Christ's name has been too! Sure, the heavens didn't tear apart and the Holy Spirit didn't descend down in a physical form looking like a dove at my baptism (and I daresay probably not at yours either) but the transformative, spirit-filled, grace-full part, well, that certainly is true!

This Sunday I invite you to remember your baptism -- whether you were sprinkled as a child, immersed as an adult, or dunked as a little baby (that is how our Eastern Orthodox friends do it) know that your baptism was an outward sign of an inward grace. 

Come join us this Sunday. It won't just be an ordinary time after all!