January 12, 2025  The Baptism of Jesus
Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements 

Call to Worship
God calls to us through the waters of baptism.
God has created each of us with tender care.
Our God is a God of majesty and awe!
God walks with each of us every step of the way.
Our God is a God of glory and wonder!
God loves each of us with tenderness and passion.
Our God calls to us through the waters of baptism.
God calls each of us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and called forth in service.
 

Hymn:  412 Come let us sing to the Lord our song

Prayer of Approach 

Holy God of glory and majesty, you have called us by name.
We pray in this moment for the courage and the strength
to answer your call.  As we open our ears to hear the story of your Son’s baptism, open our hearts also, that we may experience again
the renewing power of rebirth in the Holy Spirit.
Inspire us in this time of worship, that we may claim our own identity
as your beloved children. 

Show us that identity as you walk with us through the waters and care for us in the fires.  We pray together saying in confession: 
 

 

 

Prayer of Confession:
All encompassing God, we confess that we have not always paid much attention to the baptism of Jesus, seeing it only as the start of Jesus’ ministry.  We shy away from the river, lest we be baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We fail to recognize that you have called us by name, knowing each of us, and loving us. Forgive us for our blindness. Turn us around. Help us to be people who not only recognize the light, but who are willing to live in that light, bringing help to others in your name. For we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN. 

Assurance of Pardon 

People of God, you are known and loved by the Creator. You are marked as God’s chosen ones to bring hope and peace to others. Be at peace and live in hope.  

Walk in the assurance of God’s presence, and know that in Jesus Christ you are forgiven.  AMEN. 

Passing the Peace 

Hymn:  27 As the deer pants for the water

 

Scripture:

Isaiah 43: 1-7  P 1126
Responsive Psalm 29 P 866
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22 P 1594 

Sermon:  Through the waters of baptism 

We began our readings today in Isaiah.  The prophet is writing to encourage the exiles in Babylon that they are loved by God.  He uses such words as “you are the people of God’s choosing” and “you belong to God.” 

This is a real challenge to our perception.  The people being assured of this truth are in exile in Babylon where they had been taken as hostages after their land was invaded.  We want to say, “WHAT?”.  Why would they believe what God was saying? 

What about us when we are going through difficult times?  Is it comforting to hear the words of assurance that we are God’s people and that God is with us?  Do we question that if that’s true, why isn’t God changing our circumstances. 

But if we take a step back and look at what follows, we realize that Isaiah is talking to people in exile, reminding them that God loves them, and assuring them that God is preparing a way for them to return home. 

But then…. 

Isaiah talks about the way home being like coming through the waters, and through the rivers and through the fire. That hardly sounds like a straight way in the desert and all places made plain.   

The commentator O’Brien reminds us that this promise is linked to the exodus from Egypt, where the people passed through Red Sea and later the Jordan River as they crossed into the Promised Land.   

The “passing through” came with difficulty, and required trust and obedience.  Sometimes the people of Israel in the desert that journey meant learning to trust God along the way.  Learning to trust God for food and learning to trust God for water and most of all learning to trust that God was indeed walking with them through all circumstances.   

 

We remember this as we consider what Isaiah could mean by telling the people that coming through the waters, the rivers and the fire is a sign that God is bringing them home.    

It is an important sign that God is with them.  More importantly it is a sign that God is giving them strength in the journey.  That is the whole point of God giving us his Spirit and his presence.   

The presence of the Spirit is a sign that we are precious and honoured and loved by God.  The presence of the Spirit is a sign that God calls us by name and created us for glory. 

 

That assurance is what we see in the account of the Baptism of Jesus.  The people are flocking to the wilderness to see and hear John and to be baptized by him.  But John is clear, that he can only bring them through the waters of baptism and that when the Messiah comes, he will baptise them with the Holy Spirit.   

 

Like the journey through water, river and fire, baptism comes with the promise that God’s Spirit will come to be upon us and that God will walk among us.   

 

The people of Israel had a visible signs of God’s  presence with them in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.  That physical presence of God didn’t always cause their trust and obedience to grow but that did not negate that God’s presence was always with them.   

The Babylonian exiles only had the promises made by Isaiah that God would walk with them and guide them because of his great love for them.   

I think that they very fact that God brought them out of exile in Egypt or Babylon is only because of his great love and because he wanted to bring them through the difficulty to a place of trust and faith.  We don’t learn trust in the easy walk, we learn trust in the difficult places. 

So yes, we learn trust and faith in the  difficult part of the journey.  And yet for all of us, it is also the powerful part of the journey.  God’s presence is our strength.  We never walk alone.   

We see this truth profoundly displayed in the Baptism of Jesus.  He goes into the water, and then when John agrees to baptise him, he goes under the water, to rise again into a new journey through the water, the river and the fire. 

The evidence that the journey would be difficult for Jesus was that in the prayers of baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  Luke 3: 22 NIV   

This was all the affirmation that Jesus needed:  that God loved him and would be with him in the journey as he took up his calling as the Messiah.   

We see the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit as Jesus encountered difficult situations, like the times  when he was run out of town and the times when people attempted to take his life.  We see him when he was exhausted as the demands on his time and his power to feed and to heal became overwhelming.  Even those too timid to ask, just touched him in the hope of healing.  And Jesus felt the power go out of him.   

And we see those times when he was exhausted and retreated to the desert, the mountain or the middle of the lake to pray and connect again with God.  It is a powerful reminder to all of us that we need to spend time resting in the Spirit of God, in order to have the hope, encouragement and power to fulfill the calling of God. 

On the Baptism of Jesus Sunday, we are all encouraged to pause and remember our own baptism.  The problem is that unless we were baptized as adults, we don’t remember our baptism.   

So, lets look at the Baptism service and recognize how in it we see that God calls us by name and gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.   

As we gather by the font the minister says:  Baptism is not of our doing or deserving.  It is a gift from God.  In the Sacrament of Baptism the church recognizes God’s covenant of grace.  We receive God’s gift with faith and obedience.  The Book of Common Order, p 147 

That thread of faith and obedience that began to be demonstrated in the journey through the desert will always challenge those who come through the waters.   

The words of the Baptism service continue in such phrases as “believing in the promises [of Jesus] the church baptizes those whom the Lord our God calls.  p 148 

Further on the rite proclaims, by the waters of baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit, God claims us and calls each one of us by name….commissions us to be a royal priesthood with Christ in his ministry to the world, [and] empowers us to live in newness of life.  P 149 

It would be clear then that when we come through the waters of baptism, we are called, and sent forth, with power filling us.   

The rite continues as an elder presents the person to be baptized by name, and the minister administers water saying the person’s name and the words I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  

Pronouncing the person’s name is a very important part of this ritual.  God does not just call anyone.  He calls you.  He uses your name.  He knows you personally inside and out.  He formed you in your mother’s womb, he heard your first words, and saw your first steps.  More than that, he knows your gifts and strengths and your weakness and the ways in which you can mess us.  There is a saying, “when God calls,  he has already factored in your ability to make a mess of things.  He has called you anyway.” 

God knows you by name.  He knows you by character and he knows your heart.  He calls you by name and empowers you with his Spirit to show that he will always be walking with you, especially in the difficult parts of the journey.   

When you passed through the water of baptism, the prayers included that you would be surrounded by the Spirit.  God is asked to pour his Spirit on the newly baptized person, so that they would have the power to do his will and be a servant of Christ Jesus.  P 155   

Then again after the baptism the blessing invokes God’s presence and Spirit upon you by name asking him to increase in you daily your gifts of grace, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in [God’s] presence.  P 158 

Then, like Jesus, we all rise from the water to live out the calling given to us.  In the good days and the difficult days, we are reminded that God walks with us and surrounds us with the power we need to complete this earthly journey with hope, faith and obedience.   

In that journey God will bring us back from the abyss.  He will haul us through the water, the river and the fire.  He will walk with us in the valley and on the mountaintop.  He will encourage us, uplift us and fill us with power.   

What he will NEVER do is leave us.  We have come through the waters of baptism and WE ARE HIS.  He has called us by name and we are his, now and forevermore.  Amen 

 

Hymn:  516 A little child the saviour came

 

Offering and Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer
Gracious God, we bring you the gifts that flow from our hearts, praying that we may join you in task of caring for those whom you love and watch over. 

May the fruits of our lives be food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, shelter for the homeless, fire for those who are cold, water for those who thirst, and Word for those who long for your presence.   

May the gifts we bring be a sign of our love for the world, and an testimony that we love as you love.  Amen
 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

Holy God, we thank you for your presence in our lives, for your love and grace, your peace and purpose, your guidance and protection. 

We rejoice because your word of light and hope floods into our lives, O God. On this day of celebration, you remind us that we are marked by you to be witnesses to your light of new hope. As the heavens opened at Jesus’ baptism, so is your love poured out on us. And we rejoice that your love is poured out on the world and it’s people.  So today we bring you not only our joys, but also the concerns we have for  your world and its people.   

JOYS 

 

 

 

 

CONCERNS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD 

 

 

 

Ukraine/Russia
Israel/Gaza 

California in the multiple fires that are devastating the land and the people, and all those who are grieving
Tibet following the earthquake/rebuilding and those grieving  

Governments facing challenges: 

South Korea
Venezuela
Canada
The United States 

For all those for whom we have prayed, and all those whom we hold in our hearts, we ask for your loving mercy to be present with them, O Lord. Heal them and bind up their wounds and bring the presence of your Spirit to them.  

Bring your world to the places where they can know the gift of peace and justice.  And bring us to be those through whom your peace and justice reigns in the world.   

Creator God, Holy One, we are glad that we are precious in your sight.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, we stand at the river, ready to share in your baptism.   

Holy Spirit, Dove of Peace, set us on fire with the power of your love, so that we may pray with the power of your Son in the prayer that he has taught us, saying:   

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever.  Amen 

 

Hymn:   691 My shepherd is the King of Love

Benediction
The God of the waters walks with you.  Moving you from safety into the world. 

The God of the waters walks with you, engaging you with his Spirit, challenging you to walk in his power.  

The God of the waters walks with you, bring you the water of life,
sustaining you, cleansing you, calling you forth. 

The God of the waters walks with you bringing you through the journey from here to there; from the known to the unknown..  

The blessing of God:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit be on the journey and surround you each day.  Amen. 

 

 

Blessing Song:  445 Open our eyes Lord

Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch him, and say that we love him.  Open our ears Lord ad help us to listen
Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus 

1976, PCC 

3 Fold Amen