Baptism of the Lord Lectionary Thoughts

It's Monday morning, and my agenda includes worship planning!

Here today I will focus on the coming Sunday, which is Baptism of the Lord.  Later this week I'll finally get onto the two-weeks out schedule that I'm aiming toward.

We are in Lectionary year C, which means we are reading Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus.  In my initial commentary research, I didn't find much that helped in my planning for this coming Sunday. 

What is helpful so far is Dr. Mark W. Stamm's Sacraments & Discipleship: Understanding Baptism and the Lord's Supper in a United Methodist Context.  As I'm working through the reading on the baptism of Jesus, I'm struck that it comes prior to his ministry.  Jesus begins his public ministry after his baptism.  Baptism for Christians then should be a beginning, not a box to check off and then we're done.  Baptism should mark our entry into the body of Christ and the work of the church that entails being part of the body of Christ.

Dr. Stamm puts it this way: "A biblical, Wesleyan view of baptism and the new birth sees it not as an insurance policy or spiritual talisman, but rather a gift of the Holy Spirit that unites us to the body of Christ and leads us into a new way of life." 

The sermon focus for Epiphany was the importance of paying attention to the work of the Holy Spirit and expecting inspiration.  The churches I am serving are in the process of discerning a new understanding of their ministry in their communities, and so this seemed the right emphasis.  The area we live in is in a season of growth.  The nearest city is growing rapidly and this is also affecting the other communities in the county, and so we need to take a fresh look at our demographics and economy. 

So now that we've emphasized the importance of paying attention to the Spirit, what does this mean for the Baptism of the Lord Sunday?  Perhaps we can use this text to remember our baptisms and talk about how we are connected to the larger body of Christ.  For small churches that struggle with the anxiety of an unknown future (i.e. will we close? does this mean death?) perhaps framing baptism as what connects us to all of Christianity will be a word of hope. 


Stamm, Mark W. 2001. Sacraments And Discipleship: Understanding Baptism and the Lord's Supper in a United Methodist Context. Nashville: Discipleship Resources. Page 53.

Palm Sunday Sunshine

It was supposed to rain and snow at the same time today - can you imagine? A southern girl who knows Palm Sunday as a warm day - waving palms down Main Street in the snow? Ack!

Turns out the girls couldn’t get up early enough for the ecumenical palms procession down Main Street, so we only went to worship. It wasn’t snowing or raining, but it wasn’t much over 35 degrees either.

Bishop Weaver preached today, a motivating sermon about the disciples going ahead of Jesus to prepare the way - how we need to go prepare the way in our homes, our workplaces, our cities. The other part of the sermon was that we also need to be prepared to let go of what we value - just as the owner of the donkey did, he let go of his resources because the Lord needed it. What do we cling to because we think we need it, when really the Lord needs it?

After church we had a pot luck lunch and then I was ready for a nice relaxing cup of tea, a second slice of cake, and maybe a nap. That’s when I remembered that it was a running day - ugh. Man oh man, how I wanted to just sit there with that tea!

But I’ve promised my daughter that I would do this, so I got dressed, put on the sneakers and headed out. My ankles only hurt once, this time earlier in the run. And I lost count of the run intervals again, it’s a very good thing I’ve got that podcast to keep track for me.

The podcast guy says that after a run interval you shouldn’t be out of breath or tired. Who’s he kidding? Out of breath? Oh yeah. Tired? Not so much. I think I might like doing this. Which freaks me out, so don’t tell anyone.

Must get back to pondering mission in the global context, I’ve got reports to write.