Sunday, January 8, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading
Psalm 72:1–7, 10–14

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.
In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts.
May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.
For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight. (NRSV)

Reflection

Baptism: Ingredients and directions.  

Procure a nice bowl (or if possible, a stone font will do). Fill a pitcher with room tap water. Gather around the bowl. Say some words. Pour the water. Bless well. Then, apply water liberally. And voila! In just a few simple steps, we have a Christian. Well, sort of. There is a bit more to it than that.  

Today, Christians throughout the world are celebrating the ‘Baptism of Our Lord.’ We are observing the day Jesus went down to the Jordon and was baptized. The day God claimed Jesus as God’s own. We place an emphasis on these flowing waters because baptism is the act of making Christians.  

But why? How? 

As to the why? That’s easy: because Jesus did it. He did it before he did anything else in his ministry. 

He would raise the dead, but not before he was baptized.  

He would preach the Sermon on the Mount, but not before he was baptized. 

He would overturn tables, still storms, forgive sins, and turn water into wine. 

He would do all these things and more, but not before he was baptized. 

Jesus submitted to baptism and so must we. 

And how does this water make us and mark us as Christians? 

Well, in the Church of Jesus Christ, the waters of baptism are thicker than blood. 

The mark of Christian baptism usurps the conventions of aristocracy or nobility, of race and class, of ethnicity or nationality, boundaries that separate women and men, straight from gay, poor from rich, north from south, homeowner from homeless. 

The waters of baptism—waters thicker than blood—make and mark us as family to each other. It is in baptism—and in our renewing of our baptism--that we claim our allegiance, our relationship, our kinship to those others who are baptized. We become family to one another. Accountable to one another; to our sorrows and joys, our needs, our humanity.  

You see, it’s more than just water and a few words. It’s a new identity—a new family—marked as God’s own. 

Prayer

God, thank you for the waters of baptism. Like the showers that renew the earth, may the renewal and remembrance of my baptism, remind me who I am and whose I am: a Christian, marked as your own. Amen. 

Written by Shawn Fiedler, Major Gifts Officer  

Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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