Hi everyone,

Welcome to worship for this Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, which lands on January 11, 2026!

The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service as in it you’ll find the order and words of worship as well as the full sermon. Alternatively, all the words that you need to know will appear on your screen and the sermon is included on this page below the video.

For an enhanced online worship experience, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space that can be extinguished near the end of the service after the sending hymn. And you are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by preparing something small to eat and drink for the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.

May God’s grace, mercy, and love shine on you and bless you, this day and always!

O God, you are wise and benevolent, and you speak to us words of love and grace. Speak to us now through the power of your Spirit, that we might better know you, hear you, and see you in and around our lives, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.

So I didn’t really want to talk about this because of how politically divisive it is, but you likely have heard the name Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was fatally shot in an ICE incident in Minnesota this past week.  This of course caused an uproar in the community and online, and dug even deeper the chasm that separates the opposing sides that have divided the country so harshly and so starkly for too long.

When I first saw the news, I told myself to let it go.  It is someone I don’t know in a country I don’t live in.  But I couldn’t.  So, as I always impulsively and reluctantly do with these things, I read the comments.  Those on the articles that allowed them, those on the random social media posts that came up on my feed, and even some of those from my friends on the matter.  And I saw exactly what any of you saw if you made the unfortunate decision to read the comments as well.

And still, my heart sank. 

Why so much arguing, gaslighting, and justifications?  Why so much labelling, finger-pointing, and whataboutisms?  Why so much division, marginalizing, and hate?

That’s all I could see, from both sides of the coin.  People debating on who did this and who deserves that.  They argued on intention and motivation.  They pigeonholed the shooter and the one who got shot into these little categories in which they could prosecute, judge, and call for the execution of if they weren’t deceased already.  It was so bad that really, it started to feel like it didn’t even matter what actually happened as whatever facts that were presented were twisted and contorted to become “new evidence” of either side’s predetermined argument.  I saw the same exact video of the scene several times and suddenly everyone became a forensic scientist from CSI and figured it all out, because depending on who posted it, in the chat everyone was able to use it and interpret it to fit their own narrative of who is to blame.

At this point, I should say that I fully acknowledge and admit that I wasn’t there.  I didn’t see what happened from start to finish.  So I know that I’m not qualified to give definitive answers to these questions.  But what I can say is that either side of the argument seems to be absolutely convinced that they are in the right, and that their side is the victim of the situation.  And so fuels the endless cycle of hate perpetrated from each side against the other, with each new piece of information only solidifying their already presumed conclusion that they, again, are in the right and the victim in this horrible situation.

And in these situations, these divisive, polarizing, hate-filled situations, there just doesn’t seem to be any room for grace, compassion, and love.

Reading about the situation itself can be bad enough, but often it’s this aftermath that we’re talking about that really gets to me.  I kind of wish that something would happen, like a major force that everyone would listen to, would… I don’t know… break open the heavens and declare what should be done.  Give us the solution.  Maybe even tell us how we should treat each other.

Oh wait, that did happen.  We read about it in today’s gospel text.  I mean, this specific incident in Minneapolis wasn’t addressed by Matthew of course, but I do think that Jesus’ baptism, while for him, it was also for us in the world then, today, and always.  See, often we wonder why was Jesus even baptized to begin with.  John, who baptized Jesus, wondered the same.  He knew who Jesus is and how he’s here to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, and how it makes little sense for Jesus to be baptized with John’s baptism of repentance.   

But Jesus said that it’s proper. 

Proper?  Why would it be?  How could it be?  What does he even mean?

Well, I think that while Jesus does a lot in his ministry in general, it seems like he does a lot of redefining.  Like he gets us to unlearn so we can relearn.  He changes paradigms, interpretations, and outlooks on life.  And I think that’s what he’s doing here.  John’s baptism is one of repentance, yes.  But Jesus is here redefining it to be something else.  Something more in line with what Jesus is about.  Something that I believe God wanted for us from the beginning.

Did you know that this baptism story, albeit with slightly different details and description, is one of just a handful of stories that appear in all 4 gospels?  The others would be of course the whole Passion Narrative from the Palms to the empty tomb, including the cleansing of the temple although some gospels don’t put them together chronologically.  And there’s the feeding of the 5 thousand.  And that’s it.  These were the ones that were important enough for all 4 of the gospels to include in giving their full picture of Jesus.

And in all these stories, except maybe the overturning of tables, I see themes of grace, mercy, and love.  I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise as that is basically the Cole’s notes of Jesus’ whole ministry as recorded in scripture and even to this day through the Spirit.  I mean there’s a reason why my sermons always seem to land on at least one or more of these themes.

See while John’s baptism was a sign of our repentance, Jesus redefined it to be an act of God’s grace, mercy, and love for us all.  I often describe baptism as a “way that God physically comes to us to give us a hug.”  And that is what I think is happening at Jesus’ baptism.  He is getting a very public hug, displayed for the world, enveloping all of creation, and declaring once and for all that this is God’s Son, with whom God is well pleased.

And so it is for us in our baptisms and throughout our lives.  God comes down in physical ways, be it through water, bread and wine, or a welcoming community of diverse folk.  And in those physical ways, God brings us near, holds us, and tells us that we are loved.

Because we all need that, don’t we?  We all need to be reminded from time to time that we are loved.  Like when the chips are down, you are loved.  When we’re having an awful day, you are loved.  When it feels like we’re up against the world, you are loved.

And so it’s interesting that all of the events of Jesus’ life that is shared among all 4 of our gospels are about love.  It’s not about law and order.  They’re not about justice and retribution.  They’re not even about having all the answers and being right in order to call others out and put them in their place.  But they’re about the grace that forgives, the mercy that welcomes us, and the love that saves us all.

So while I hear and read about stories like the Renee Good case, while I see so much argumentative hatred coming from all angles, while we might wonder what could be classified as fact or alternative facts, news or fake news, truth or blatant lies, I think it would behoove us to remember that we aren’t called to exact revenge.  We aren’t called to belittle and demean others.  We aren’t called to hate.  Rather we’re called to reflect God’s grace on all those who don’t deserve it.  We’re called to forgive those who have wronged us, those who weren’t good to us, and even ourselves when we wrong or aren’t good to others.  We’re called to love, just as we have first been loved.

I know, easier said than done.  And we often don’t know what that love even looks like.  But I can tell you what it doesn’t look like, it doesn’t look like the vitriol we see on social media.  It doesn’t look like the racism, sexism, and supremist ideals that are so prevalent these days.  It doesn’t look like hate.

So I want to finish off with this very famous quote from one of my favourite preachers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, from his “Love Your Enemies” sermon: Why should we love our enemies? The first reason is fairly obvious. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Let’s be reminded that we are loved, just as Jesus is loved.  Let’s remind others that they are loved, just as we are loved.  And let’s treat each other in light of this identity, with welcome, with forgiveness, and with the fact that we are all collectively and truly loved, and with us, God is graciously and mercifully pleased.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.