THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
From the Baptism of the Lord we are
encouraged to recall our own baptism and the implications it brings to us
today. Through baptism we become members of the Church and a child of God.
Original Sin is washed away and we are orientated towards God. We are
recognized, singled out, and claimed for Christ. What a beautiful though this
becomes. Our God recognizes us and folds us into his arms. We are important to
him and he loves us. We are then presented with a challenge: are we going to
ignore this love or return it in full. This can cause some great reflection
because there are many times in our lives when we all do in fact ignore that
love and take it for granted. That is our human nature and it is hard to
overcome. Not only is God ignored but the love given to us by our families,
friends, and ever ourselves have been taken for granted over the course of our
lives.
It can be argued that a great amount of
time and energy is dedicated to burning bridges and repairing them in a cycle
of sin, betrayal, and disappointment. We are encouraged by society to pursue
selfish goals while ignoring what is most important in our lives: God,
community, family, and friends. Jesus called his disciples friends and we are
encouraged to call everyone within our community the same. We are further
encouraged to treat all those whom we encounter and relate with as friends;
even our enemies. We are told to rise above the accepted norms in society and
refuse to participate in adversity. In the end, we need to surrender ourselves
to love as Christ did for us. We cannot accept what is practiced by those who
do not embrace the ideals set forth in scripture. This leads to divisive
behavior and conduct that leads to a blurring of morality and what is truly
important. What is truly important is Jesus Christ and the message he brings
into this world. It is a message of change and a message of love.
Christ delivered his message without
violence and adversity. We must live our lives the same way with this message
in mind. Imagine ourselves being one of Christ’s disciples. That is what we
became when we were baptized. As we live our lives, this is slowly revealed to
us. Of course, we did not react to it immediately. Some of us were too young
while others among us did not realize what we truly had until later in life. We
have this opportunity now to participate in our birthright.
Envision that it is us being baptized in
the Jordan and the implications that event has for us. How are we going to
react to this? We can embrace it or we can ignore it. Ignoring it means that we
continue our lives without the realizing our faith journey while embracing it
opens the doors to salvation.
Deacon Tom
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