Baptism of the Lord - January 9, 2022

This week we gather and hear the story of Jesus’ baptism.  Like Jesus, who was claimed at his baptism as God’s beloved Son, in baptism, we too have been claimed by God.  The most basic truth about who we are comes not from what we have, or what we do, or even what we’ve failed to do, but our truest and most basic identity comes from whose we are.  Like Jesus we are God’s own beloved sons and daughters.  No matter what identity we have claimed for ourselves, no matter the identity others have tried to impose upon us, no matter the label we have earned from our good choices or our worst mistakes, we are first and foremost God’s beloved.  In thinking about making a new beginning, in a New Year – we begin at the font, remembering that baptism gives us a new story.  We are God’s beloved.  Friends this is what it means to be baptized into Christ.  Baptism is about finding our identity, finding out who we are, in Jesus Christ.