[RCL] Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine,” says God to a community of exiled people. The promises spoken in Isaiah 43:1-7 give assurance and comfort amid uncertainty. God’s people have been exiled. They have been…

I want to talk a bit about the Baptism of Jesus, about what it means. The place to start, of course, is with the story we just heard. We heard the first part of it just a few weeks ago. Remember how John was at the Jordan River (the place where the people of Israel…

As long as most of us have been able to remember, modern-day so-called prophets have been crying that Jesus is coming sometime soon in our lifetime. For that matter, any quick glance at Church history reveals that generations of folks have been anticipating the Second Coming. Even St. Paul thought that Jesus was going to…

Wesley Frensdorff was the bishop of Nevada in the early 1970s. He also served as assisting bishop of Arizona and interim bishop of Navajoland. He was one of the early visionaries of a movement called “total ministry,” a strategy for living out our Baptismal Covenant in community. Our Baptismal Covenant, the promise we make together…

“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky.” These lovely works by poet John Masefield talk about the sailor’s almost irresistible draw to the water. It’s been said that since our bodies may be up to 75 percent water, we are automatically drawn to water. We know certainly…

What does it mean to be God’s chosen? What does it mean to be God’s Beloved? The four gospels tell the story of Jesus’ baptism a bit differently, but a core truth emerges from all of them: that Jesus is God’s chosen one, God’s beloved son. A voice from heaven belonging to God or God’s…

Today we find John Baptist at the River Jordan, where he preached repentance, baptized Jesus, and admitted how much greater Jesus was than he. John’s is a story of such great significance that we hear parts of it every year — twice, sometimes three times. John Baptist was quite a character — wild and woolly,…

“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in…

The Baptism of Jesus is a big event. There are a lot of things that come together in Jesus’ baptism. There are a lot of things that come together in our Baptisms. First, let us consider John the Baptist. John is a certifiable wild man. He came from the wilderness. He dressed in what was…