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PRAYER OF THE DAY
Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit and revealed him as your beloved Son. Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service, that we may rejoice to be called children of God, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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Alleluia. A voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Alleluia. (Matt. 3:17)
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Luke 3. 15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
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MUSINGS
This Sunday is the festival of The Baptism of Our Lord. But did you notice who was baptized in Luke 3:12? All the people, and Jesus. This was a communal event culminating in a vivid nexus of heaven and earth. The Holy Spirit alighting on Jesus and the voice from heaven proclaimed to the assembly that Jesus came as Lord of the heavens and Son of God. But Jesus came also as one of us. He was baptized with us, walked and lived among us, even to the point of dying with us, and as Lord, lives as the resurrected Son of God.
In our own baptisms we too experience a nexus of heaven and earth. In the midst of the assembly we are joined into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through water and the Holy Spirit. May we, whenever we assemble for baptism, be immersed in that vivid nexus, renewed to proclaim God's praises and to join in faithful service to our world.
Thanks be to God!
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