Baptism of the Lord

Our readings for Baptism of the Lord Sunday are:

1. Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
2. Psalm 104:1b-4,24-25,27-30
3. Psalm Titus 2: 11-14, 3:4-7
4. Luke 3:15-16,21-22

1. Something to shout about
• All of history is on a story arc.  Is ours ultimate destruction, or transformation?
• Is there any aspect of our existence, our reality, our universe that is maturing, unfolding, getting better?
• How can we further that maturing?
• If it's all going to vaporize at the second coming, what does it matter?
2. Creature comforts
• How active do you think that God is in your life?
• Did He merely set up the whole DNA infrastructure, and sat back to see how it would turn out?
• Did He influence the development of each and every hillside, rock, tree and animal to culminate in what we see to day?
• Does He continue to create, even as we are speaking?
• If God forgot about you, would you still exist?
• What role do you think that we have in creation?  How are we like the animals of the forest, the sky above and the rivers, and how are we different?
• How should that relationship to God and His creation change, transform, illuminate our prayer life?
3. Embracing the stranger
• Thinking about RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), how would you explain that to someone?
• It's a vetting process to make sure that we don't get any of "those people" in our midst.
• It's the start of a lifelong dialog between a person and God in the context of the Catholic Church.
• It's a way for someone new to Catholicism  figure out whether they want to learn more.
• It's a way for someone new to Catholicism to learn all that they will ever need to know about our faith.
• It's a clever way to recruit people who didn't realize what they were getting into when they married a Catholic.
• Is a formal initiation process the only time and place that someone can join us?
• What is the pivotal event/rite at which a person is fully initiated?
• In what ways, at the personal level, do our relationships to someone change at the various steps along the way as they are initiated?
4. Being a blessing
• In his book Sacred Fire Ronald Rolheiser speaks of being a blessing to others in a radical way.  The blessing that God gives Jesus in this Gospel reading transcends merely the verbal, it's an investment in Jesus, a passing of the torch to him.  Henceforth, the ultimate, the only revelation of God is going to be this Jesus, this Son of His.  God is betting the farm on Jesus, there's no going back, no plan "B".
• As you have gone through life, have you had epochal moments, big transitions, watershed events where you have handed some part of yourself over to another?
• How did you go about doing that?
• Was it well received?
• If that hand off was not well received, did it happen anyway?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Do I find the thought of Christ's Second Coming a comfort or an anxiety?
2. Do I properly discern God's presence in Creation?
3. What is the way that I'm living preparing me for?
4. Am I in the business of launching ministries, or jealously trying to hang on?

The Big Cheese

The hard part about ministry is to remember that all of us are just bit players
In a drama that is unfolding on sets all around the world, through all of time.

We and the other cast members see each other, interact, even call to each other
To bring forth the faithfulness to the original call deep within all of us.

But it's so easy to forget who made that call on us, brought each of us forth
Individually to serve right here, right now as His servants to His flock.

Maybe I can hang a pair of sandals in my office as a reminder
That my life is just walking in Jesus' shoes, trying to follow His footsteps.

So that I'll learn the hard lesson of humility,
Or at least not have to be reminded so often.

Shalom!