NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2023
This second Sunday of the year is when we observe the Baptism of Jesus. It always follows January 6, observed at the Epiphany of Our Lord. The assigned text for Baptism of our Lord Sunday ends in Matthew 3:17 right after Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist with the voice of God saying, “This is my (Child), the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This seems to indicate that Baptism brings great pleasure and joy to God.
Reflecting on that thought this week, I was made to think about baptism in a way I’ve never considered it before. We know that God gives us freewill. Having done so, not even God will violate our freewill. But what if baptism is a means in which God offers us the opportunity to recognize we have been adopted into God’s family. Adoption is a process that makes a being a legal child of a parent. What if we started thinking of baptism as the process of us acknowledging that we have accepted the fact that we each have become a legal child of God. What a wonderful way to think of baptism!
The Apostle Peter tells us in the assigned text from Acts 10, that everyone is welcome to experience this wonderful truth. Coming to this realization, from being sent to preach the “Good News” at Cornelius, a gentile’s home, and watching the people at Cornelius home react to this good news, made Peter ask, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So (Peter) ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Vs.47 & 48)
Why not allow this wonderful truth of God “NO Partiality” to become your reality as we observe Baptism Sunday as you remember Your Baptism? And join us in worship, IN-PERSON, by ZOOM or Facebook Livestream or later via YouTube. My Sermon is “Baptism – No Partiality” based on “Acts 10:24-35, 44-48,” & “Matthew 3:13-17.”
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