The Baptism of Our Lord
The Baptism of Our Lord
In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, everything proper to humanity was united in the Son of God. He didn’t only become like us; he actually became truly and fully human. Like us in every sense (except our sin), while at the same time remaining truly and fully God. He became man, in the words of the Nicene Creed, “for us and for our salvation”.
The eternal Word became frail human flesh and blood to save us from our sin and to free us to marvel at and enjoy the unique union of divinity and humanity in this one spectacular person. Jesus chose to become flesh and blood to die on our behalf, because if things were truly just, it would be us.
It’s in the mystery of the Eucharist, then—through the elements of bread and wine—that we meet that self-sacrificing Jesus and receive and are nourished by that gift as we are in no other way. It helps frame for us the meaning of the incarnation.
But that’s what the Sacraments—Communion and Baptism—do. They’re “outward and physical signs of inward and physical realities.”
Every year on the Sunday following The Feast of the Epiphany the Church commemorates and contemplates The Baptism of our Lord. Because it, too, helps frame for us the meaning of the incarnation.
See you Sunday.
Steve+
NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Second Sunday Sandwiches—this Sunday following worship
Vestry Meeting—this Sunday following Second Sunday Sandwiches
Evening Prayer—Wednesdays, 7PM @ 1309
Men’s Bible Study—Thursdays, 7AM @ 1309
Photo credit: Baptism of Jesus - stained glass/iStock
