Baptism of the Lord, Year C

Baptism
for Ellen and Kate Flanagan
 
I came from water through the hoop of bone
Into this cold pool in the womb of stone.
 
I drowned my first mind in the font’s small well,
A new world breaking on my fontanel.
 
Again I broke the waters and again I came
Wet and glistening, into my name
 
Drowning, my life passed through me in a flash
And I emerged, marked secretly, my sign the fish.
 
Now I have known my origin and my end
And swim towards myself in a new element,
 
Marvellously single and, marvellously, a shoal
Of all those washed in that water, salt and oil.
 
Seamus Heaney
17th December 1971
 
There are many correct answers for what baptism is and means. But that doesn’t necessarily suggest we understand it, or, at least, that we come to understanding by way of those “correct” answers. The path for many of us is much different. More circuitous. More poetry than prose. If baptism is about anything, though, it is about belonging and becoming and it is hard to imagine how you can possibly have one without the other. It is an act of God and it has everyting to do with us.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Wisdom 3:13-15, 4:1-2 † Psalm 143 † 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 † Luke 3:1-6, 15-23  

​About the Art: The art for this Christmas season is shaped around the theme of “Many Pieces, One Story.” Each week the art will feature a quilt that holds meaning. The quilt pictured on the front cover was made and given to the Shireys by their church, The Newman Center, when they moved to Seattle from Minnesota. The quilt was presented at the end of a worship service along with a blessing of love and safety.

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