The Baptism of the Lord 2011
Isaiah 42:1-7
Acts 10:34-38
Matthew 3:13-17
KWWL asks peoples’ opinions. Two days after Christmas: When should Christmas lights be taken down and put into storage?
Each had a different answer.
One replied, "The day after Christmas."
Another said, "Within two or three days after Christmas."
A third replied, "Not until New Years."
A fourth responded, "I like the lights. Leave ‘em out all winter."
The question is pretty open-ended. When it comes to outdoor lighting we each have our individual preferences.
But ask someone who has a sense of history, of church liturgy and spirituality and you get a response that surprises retailers and anyone who thinks that the months of November and December are the Christmas season.
Last night, one of our children said: “Why do you still have the Christmas decorations up? Don’t you know Christmas is over?”
As a church, we say that today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, is right time to put away our lights and trees, our crèche and our poinsettias. The light and manger scene we see in the Church today is not due to a lazy or procrastinating art and environment committee! These decorations remind us that the Feast of the Incarnation celebrates not only the birth of Jesus, but also his entrance into the human family.
It’s a family that widens over time. It begins with the Holy Family, expands to include Gentiles with the Epiphany, and grows with the help of John the Baptist and the waters of the Jordan. In the Incarnation, God entered into our human family. In this feast of Baptism, we are reminded, that God speaks these same words to us: You are my beloved with whom I am well pleased.
Through this mystery we realize that the baptism of the Lord is less about sinfulness than it is about solidarity. Emmanuel who is with us is also God who is entirely for us. Through this mystery we also come to realize that the formation of a church makes sense only in light of the proclamation of a kingdom.
At Christmas, the love of God put on the human face of Jesus Christ.
In baptism we celebrate that the human face of Christ is being remade into our faces and that God is declaring to us that we are beloved sons and daughters.
When Jesus heard the voice of love, he immediately went to the desert to prepare the giving of his whole life to God in gratitude. As we begin to grasp the meaning of “You are my beloved,” we too begin to live our lives out of thankfulness to the One who stands behind the words.
Like Jesus, we make that commitment to give our lives in loving service to others. Whether it someone in our class room, at work, neighborhood, family, we must reach out to bring healing and God’s presence to them.
We probably cannot change the world order but we can serve in the spirit of Jesus. On my office wall hangs this reminder:
I will do more than belong, I will participate.
I will do more than care, I will help.
I will do more than believe, I will practice.
I will do more than be fair, I will be kind.
I will do more than forgive, I will love.
I will do more than earn, I will serve.
I will do more than teach, I will enrich.
I will be more than friendly, I will be a friend.
I will do more than live, I will grow.
That is the meaning of OUR baptism. We are reminded of that each time we enter here and bless ourselves with the blest water at the entrances, each time we sprinkle ourselves with baptismal water.
We will remove the Christmas decorations tomorrow night. You can come and help. The Christmas celebration comes to an end today, but Christmas must continue throughout the totality of our lives.
Rev. Everett Hemann
RevEv@SaintPatrickcf.org
I am thankful to Rev. Tom Mannebach, a priest in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, for the opening image.