South West Norfolk Pastoral Charge

                                                                                           "New Beginnings Through God” 

The child born in a stable and visited by magi from distant lands, today is about to take on his role as God’s servant in all its fullness. Even though we’re only one week from last Sunday, in our Gospel

text we move forward 30 years, right to the beginning of Jesus ’ministry, the baptism of Jesus. This event is one of few that is recorded in all four gospels. Could this be telling us that it’s important and we’re not meant to miss it. Most people consider this event the beginning of Jesus’ real ministry on Earth, and there are several factors that lead us to this consideration. First, he is recognized and named by John, the Messenger and Preparer, as the one he’s been waiting for, 

“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.” 

Then Jesus is washed in the River Jordan and when he comes up out of the water, we encounter a surprise: God open’s the heavens and breathes into the world again. God’s voice comes from above, speaking to Jesus, saying:  

 “You are my son, the Beloved with whom l am well pleased.” 

To read this breath as a spirit, or, as the Holy Spirit, as is customary, misses the way this scene calls back Genesis 1 where we see a connection and consistency that we should not overlook. 

“When God began to create[a] the heavens and the earth— 2 the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared”.  (Genesis 1: 1 – 3) 

Eugene Peterson’s “The Message” describes the same scene like this,   

           “The earth was a soup of nothingness, bottomless emptiness, inky blackness”   

These are powerful vivid images!  

From nothing, suddenly this void comes to life as God’s Spirit…Spirit of life… life spark… hovers over…. broods over…Joins…. and it begins, order from chaos. 

When we connect it to Jesus’ baptism, God breathes again! And life is literally blown into Jesus ministry!  And this time Jesus is named (Son, beloved, with him I am well pleased), and thus given

an identity, a nature, a purpose, and a place in God’s work in creation. This marks Jesus’ baptism as a standout, as a special beginning of something new in his life and in the world. 

We think of Jesus as the Son of God, the word made flesh, why would he need to be baptized?

It’s confusing, isn’t it?   

John Dominic Crosson offers this interpretation. He argues, for John, baptism was a re-enactment of the entry of the Hebrew people from the wilderness, through the Jordan, into the Promised Land. Crosson suggests that John was trying to establish a body of people who would remember their history and be dedicated to overthrowing the Romans and re-asserting Jewish sovereign when the appropriate time came. 

Jesus clearly claimed this symbolism for his own ministry, although he adjusted its meaning. He was not trying to incite rebellion (John was), but he was trying to lead the people to a new kingdom, a new way of understanding God, a new sense of what it meant to be God’s servants, a new “promised land”. It was appropriate that Jesus should begin his ministry by going through the waters of the Jordan…. 

Baptism is about new beginnings, and God’s claim and call. Every day the word of God claims us… Every day God’s creating voice announces its claim again, brand new. So, once upon a time, in the middle of human time, at just the right time, the Lord announced this claim in a new way, and renewed the invitation. 

The coming of Christ opens reality in an utterly unique way, to invite us one more time to live within the gracious order of God’s claim on us. Whether we recognize it or not. This is a time for us to be positive, to lean into the community of love God wants all of us to share. This is a time where we can take God’s gift of renewal to heart and put it to work in our lives. That’s what the baptism of Jesus is about, to reveal to us new life and creation are ongoing, always flowing, like this water, and the Spirit. 

The message here today is that in Jesus Christ God became one of us in order to be able to transform and renew every aspect of our existence, from the way we treat our neighbours to how we use our money. 

We need to be aware of and open to the fact that it should be the love of God that drives our choices in living. As people claimed and called by God, we have so much to celebrate and invite our friends and neighbours to join the celebration too. Share the love, let the Spirit in and be revealed through you. As we reflect on this story of the baptism of Jesus, and the words from heaven that said: “with you I am well pleased’. 

God has the same words waiting for us. Our baptismal identity is both individual and communal. Baptism honours the diversity and challenges us to be equals… 

“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3: 27-28) 

It’s a step-by-step process in experiencing God within and God’s way God’s wishes, hopes and expectations for us as God’s beloved. 

Every day, God’s claim over all creation is renewed. God is with us, every day and in every moment of our lives, and we are invited to share more fully in that reality. Let’s answer the invitation. Let’s step into God’s new creation every day. 

I bid you peace as a new year unfolds.               PT.

                                                                                   CONTACTS FOR CEMETERY BOARDS

COURTLAND UNITED CEMETERY:        Wayne Cadman   519-688-2345      

CULTUS  CEMETERY:                 Linda Millen  519-875-4657     

South West Norfolk Pastoral Charge...We Are Linked In LOVE!!

CULTUS UNITED CHURCH: Located at  748-6th Concession Road ENR, Cultus, Ontario     WORSHIPS on Sundays at  9:00am        

COURTLAND UNITED CHURCH: Located at 133 Talbot Street, Courtland, Ontario            WORSHIPS on SUNDAYS AT 10:30am           

Our Mission Statement:   The South West Norfolk Pastoral Charge is called to be a Christian community empowered and inspired by the Holy Spirit and to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

CONTACT US:   EMAIL: swnpc@yahoo.ca                  Office Phone: 519-688-4050

**** FOR ALL PASTORAL EMERGENCIES  PASTOR TED can be reached at  519-861-9273 ****

OUR MAILING ADDRESS:  South West Norfolk Pastoral Charge, P.O.Box 129, 119 Talbot Road, Courtland, On., N0J1E0

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