Scriptures for Jan 7 - Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it
(some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.


(St. Paul's uses the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary readings which are a little different from the Prayer Book Lections. The recent General Convention authorized the RCL as our official lectionary.)

January 7, 2007
The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, Year C
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

The Collect
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River
Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him
with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his
Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly
confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy
Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The Scriptures
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Isaiah 43:1-7
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who
formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I
have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the
waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall
not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be
burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord
your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as
your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you
are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give
people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do
not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the
east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the
north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring
my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the
earth -- everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my
glory, whom I formed and made."
_________________

Read this passage as though it were a love song that God sings to you.
Imagine your living with a sense of the constant presence of God that leaves you completely fearless. How might life be different like that?
____________________________________________

Psalm 29 Afferte Domino

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, *
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; *
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders; *
the Lord is upon the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; *
the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; *
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, *
and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire;
the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; *
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe *
and strips the forests bare.
9 And in the temple of the Lord *
all are crying, "Glory!"
10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; *
the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.
11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; *
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.
_________________

When have you known the power of God manifested in nature?
Have you ever sensed an experience that felt like the voice of the Lord?
________________________________________________

Acts 8:14-17
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The
two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the
Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them;
they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then
Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the
Holy Spirit.
__________________

Of the people of Samaria were regarded as outsiders and heretics.

What does it say about the early church that Peter and John brought them the gift of baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit?
_________________________________________________

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were
questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be
the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you
with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am
not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand,
to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his
granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had
been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the
Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I
am well pleased."
____________________

What did baptism mean to John the Baptist?
What did his baptism mean to Jesus?
What does your baptism mean to you?
___________________________________________________________

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html and follow the instructions.

On most weekdays I send a Morning Reflection to this same list, offering a thought about the readings from the Daily Office.

Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR