Baptism of Our Lord January 8, 2023

Baptism of Our Lord

Talking Baptism

1/8/23 St. John

 

Here it is a brand new year

And we took a good look in the mirror

Came up with new solutions

Made some New Year’s resolutions

 

Turn over a new leaf, start fresh, maybe even repent

 

So maybe we said we’d quit smoking

Be more honest and plainspoken

Lose some weight, find a mate

Quit showing up for work so late.

 

Gonna drive more carefully, live more prayerfully

Gonna take more of what we have and share fully

Have more love for the human race

Make the world a better place.

 

We made some resolutions. I’ve got a friend who owns a gym, he makes a lot of money in January

 

And New Year’s Day’s when it all began

I mean our new beginning and our a brand new plan

The only trouble here it’s one week on

And a lot of our resolution is gone

 

Our reach has surpassed our grasp as you might say

 

Might have slipped a little, might have backslid

Tell the truth, you know you did

We’re back to eatin’ rich desserts

Chewing your fingernails till it hurts

 

Back to arguing with your spouse

About who’s gonna  clean up the house

Said we wouldn’t do it anymore

But now we’re back to keeping score.

 

We’re great at keeping score, when somebody owes us one. Good thing God’s not keepin’ score

 

No matter how hard we try

To keep our resolution alive

We can’t live up to our intentions

Or even earn honorable mentions

Cause we’re sinners, what can you expect?

We may be the Lord’s elect

But it’s just too hard for me and you

To keep doing what we say we’ll do.

 

The good that I would do I don’t do but evil I hate is what I do do –

 

And that’s the reason God came down

Born in a stable in backwater town

And died on a cross on a garbage mound

With a purple robe and a thorny crown.

 

God with us, among and in us

A God who’s for us and not agin us

A God who’s the Father and the Spirit too

And then a Son who’s human like me and you

 

It’s the Holy Trinity everybody knows that – just don’t try to understand it

 

Because in Jesus’ holy birth

God came to live on earth

And be a person like you and me

To live among us and set us free

 

To keep on trying again and again

Our best at being faithful women and men

To give to God the best we’ve got

And when we fail, to take another shot.

 

You’ve got a hundred trillion chances, so don ‘t get discouraged

 

To be reborn, every hour, minute

That’s the gospel truth innit

Walking wet as some people say

Living our baptisms every day

 

So at the start of each new year

The gospel story we come to hear

About baptism, about incarnation

About Jesus and our salvation

 

About a river and about a man named John

And a lot of people coming down

And asking John what they should do

And going in the water and come up new.

And to give extra coat to the needy, share your food with the hungry, don’t cheat people, or extort

So, just imagine John’s surprise

When Jesus came to be baptized

His own cousin, the promised one

The lamb of God, and Mary’s son

 

He came  down to the Jordan River

And the Holy Spirit, that life giver

Descended upon him like a dove

When a Voice came down from heaven above

 

The Voice of God, it was the holy Word

It was a voice so loud everybody heard

With a message for the chosen one

Saying bless you Jesus, you are my Son.

 

***The beloved, and have I got a job for you

 

So even Jesus was baptized

As part of the plan that God devised

For all of us women and men

To have a chance to begin again

 

For the salvation of the world

And this is how the plan unfurled

With the water and the word for you and me

Jesus was baptized and so are we

 

So as this brand New Year begins

As we’re adding up our losses and wins

Our baptism is how we start again

And God gives us a new heart again

 

Every day a chance to do God’s will

As we walk this valley, climb this hill

And heading for that golden shore

No matter how much we’ve failed before

 

Each day we’re born, with water and word,

That’s the good news that we’ve all heard

Better than a New Year’s resolution

For our sins that’s God’s solution.

 

In that water that old you dies

Drowns so the new you can rise.

Like on the cross his life he gave

And then he rose up from the grave

 

Baptism’s new life for you and for me

The Holy Spirit sets us free

Through the word of God it’s a new beginning

Though it’s not the end of all our sinning

 

Still gonna stumble, still gonna fall, but we’re in good company, it’s called being human

 

But, we are saved by water and the word

It’s not just the water, that’d be absurd

Otherwise why not just take a shower

When it comes to salvation the promise is the power

 

The same thing happens in the Lords Supper

Another sacrament and lifter upper

It’s the end of the old life we’ve been livin’

When God tells us we’re forgiven

 

Completely, 100 percent forgiven, and it works every time

 

When he hear God’s word in pulpit preaching

In bible study or Sunday school teaching

When we read the bible alone or with others

Talk about our faith with sisters and brothers

 

Holy Spirit comes to us then

The light shines and we begin again

We’re set free from a spiritual prison

And it all begins with our baptism

 

But it doesn’t end there, that’s just the start

 

In the beginning God created

The heavens and the earth, and how God made it

Was breathe the Spirit upon the waters

To make a world for God’s sons and daughters.

 

And that same Spirit comes to us

To give us faith and help us trust

In a world of sin and strife

Not just a new year but every minute of every hour a brand new life