Hi everyone,
So I am back from a quick week off, which in many ways felt like a proper week off. Maybe it was because I was so tired from Christmas and all that comes with it during pandemic times that I had no energy to really do much else but rest and relax. However, I was able to get some stuff done around the house too, like finally get our winter wheels on our cars… (after about 2 weeks of snow and really cold weather).
But I’m on today and trying to catch up on some of the stuff that I missed. I’m working from home, trying to keep my head afloat while feeling a little under the weather (pretty sure it’s not COVID though).
And wouldn’t you know it, just as I’m getting into the thick of things, one of the kids comes in and is just like, “what’cha doing?” Uh, what do you think when I have all these documents and emails and I’m typing furiously? But she wanted to sit on my lap and chat a bit.
I did what any busy person who just came back from a week of holidays and is playing catch up did, I took a moment to chat with her. Because although she was causing me extreme inconvenience, these moments aren’t always going to happen and her expression of love is going to change (probably into a more stand-offish and confrontational way as they get into the teen years and beyond). So I will take what I can get.
Here are the readings for this upcoming Sunday:
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
We are headed into the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, which happens at the start of every Season after the Epiphany. So at the start of every Season after the Epiphany we get this story of… you guessed it… Jesus getting baptized. But it’s interesting how every account we get has it a little different.
This account we get out of Luke is interesting to me, as the very well known phrase that God gives, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” comes direct to Jesus, almost as though no one else is supposed to hear, no one else is supposed to share in the moment, no one else is supposed to write this down and have it read over and over for millennia. It’s almost intimate. And I like it a lot.
Because I feel like that is what baptism is for us (at whatever age we receive it), it is a personal way for God to tell us that we are special. It is a physical way for God to embrace us. It is an intimate way for God to be present in our lives and say, “I love you”.
I know, it’s a weird way because there is water involved over our heads, but it is what we have and I’ll take it. Because to me, nothing is more reassuring than being reminded of just how much we are loved by God, and how expansive this love is.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!
Photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash