Baptism of the Lord

Our readings for the Baptism of the Lord are:

1. Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6-7
2. Psalms 29: 1-2, 3-4, 9-10
3. Acts 10: 34-38
4. Matthew 3: 13-17

• Victory of Justice
• Victory calls for a victor and a vanquished.
• Who or what would those vanquished be in your life if/when justice triumphed in your life?
• If justice were to triumph, in those circumstances, what would change, what would that new reality look like?
• What part would you play in making that happen?

• The blessings of peace
• There is a sense of the word "peace" that we think of when we say "keeping the peace".  There is even an intercontinental ballistic missile system called the "Peace Keeper".  In both of those cases, I propose that the peace is not so much "kept" as it is "enforced".
• How would you define peace at the personal, family, community, parish and national levels?
• What is common between all of those different sorts of peace?
• How do you see God working today to make peace happen?
• How is that activity a display of God's might?
• How can we become part of that "peace movement"?

• Chosen
• Think of a time when you met someone for the first time, and as you talked, it turned out that the two of you had a great deal in common.  Maybe all of those things in common paved the way to a lasting friendship.
• 1 Peter 2: 9 tells us that God's followers are a "chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (NIV)  No matter who we are, we have a lot in common with each other.
• Given that all of us are called, all of us are chosen, how might we, as God's children celebrate that commonality within our communities?

• Stating the obvious
• Back before 23 and me, the paternity of children was never an absolutely sure thing.  In some cultures, the father would formally accept the child as their own after the birth.  That acceptance was intentional, permanent, immutable.  As profound as that claiming is, there is still a lot of work that the child has to do to live up to that heritage.
• Do you feel claimed by your family, your community, your God?
• If that sense of belonging were stronger in you, how might it change you?
• Is that a good thing?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. How am I bringing about greater justice in my life?
2. Where can I bring more peace to just one person?
3. What specifically is God calling me to today?
4. What are my truest roots?  Am I faithful to them?

Holy Water

The sun was setting, the dry desert breeze shifting with the changes in temperature.
I had no idea how many more of us John would baptize that day,
I just hoped that I would be among them.  I had come a long way to get here.

Watching John baptize was a study in being present to the now.

Each person who came to him received his full attention.

Nothing else on the planet mattered to John during that encounter.

Going under the waters was an act of communion for each one of us

Joining all of the others who had already entered that muddy river

Making a welcome for those unseen countless pilgrims behind us.

The fellow ahead of me startled John.

A spark of recognition, a moment of worship, prayer in both directions

And then a sound like a thousand thunderclaps.

For a moment the veil was shredded and heaven shone through creation.

We all knew then that the two sides of eternity were really one.

And this newly baptized arose from the waters.

He stood there in the stream, joining heaven and earth.

A dripping reminder that our God is present in both.

And I started to shake with the realization -

The realization that those baptismal waters were forever changed.

That I was about to step into that same priesthood

Become a part of that same incarnation.

The water felt so ordinary, it was just as muddy as before.

But it flowed past me, transformed, revealed

As a connection to all of creation, all of humanity, and the love of God

As never before.  The rocks and hills looked fresher

Illuminated by a holy light that I had not seen before

As I saw them for the last time before I, too went under.

Pray for me that I may fulfill the promise of that baptism

Always finding new ways to celebrate that ongoing borning

That calls me forward, enlivened, each day.

Merry Christmas!