Tag: “Baptism”

Second Sunday after Epiphany

For Meditation and Reflection:
“Though it’s a familiar story to modern-day Christians, in many ways it might have made little sense to the early church. Why would Jesus need to be baptized? If anything, shouldn’t the Son of God be doing the baptizing?
For the early church, eager to proclaim Jesus’s divinity to the world, the story would obviously have proved problematic. Reading backward, then, we can see that the evangelists seemed to be stuck with an event that would have been hard to explain to newcomers. There is little chance that they would have consciously made up something like this. In addition, the story is included in all three Synoptic Gospels and referred to in John, so it needs to be taken seriously.”
~James Martin, SJ, Jesus, A Pilgrimage

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer (Pastor)

Responsive Call to Worship (Traditional Monastic Liturgy)
Pastor: We wait for the word of the Lord as we wait for the rains.
People: and our God shall come down upon us like gentle dew.
Pastor: The hills and the mountains will be singing praise to God.
People: Every tree in the forest will be clapping its hands.
The Lord will come and rule for ever. Alleluia.

Opening Hymn #32, God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale

Prayer for Illumination (Pastor)

Today’s Scripture Reading: Mark 1:4-11

Sermon: “Baptism” (Mike Lyle)