Rheba Salac

Today’s festival rejoices in God’s blessings. We recall and celebrate our adoption as God’s children, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the promised company of almighty God when we “pass through the waters . . . the rivers . . . fire.” On this day the heavens open again for this assembly, and we receive the gift of God’s Beloved, Jesus, in bread and wine. ~ CLC Website: https://www.clcmillvale.com/ Youtube: clcmillvale ; Twitter: ChristMillvale ; Facebook and Instagram: #CLCMillvale. Christ Lutheran Church 917 Evergreen Avenue, Millvale, PA 15209 ~- ~ eMail:-~ www.clcmillvale.com Christ Lutheran Church 917 Evergreen Avenue, Millvale, PA 15209 ~- ~ eMail:-~ www.clcmillvale.com HOLY WATER Joseph Imhoff The minute we hear the word ‘baptism’ we think of water; water is everywhere around us, it is a necessity of and for life. Or as Samuel Taylor Coleridge described it in ’The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, “Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink!” It comes in many forms but remains water: there is vapor such mist, the clouds in the sky, steam, which many use to heat homes and businesses; there is liquid filling streams, lakes and oceans, the stuff we drink and wash with, not to mention swimming and boating; there are the solid forms of snow and ice, snow which recently stranded travelers in drifts on a roadway in Virginia or microns of invisible ice causing major pileups even at very slow speeds in New England. The first Sunday after Epiphany, which the Church celebrated last Sunday but is actually January 6, this past Thursday in 2022, is designated The Baptism of our Lord. Gosh, how time flies in the liturgical calendar, three weeks ago Christ was born on Christmas, last week he was visited by the Magi when scholars calculate he was about two years old, now he’s being baptized as a full grown man, time flies when you’re having fun! Cleanliness had been ingrained in Jewish life since the people of Israel left Egypt under Moses and the laws of the Old Testament were instituted. Ritual washing, especially for those entering the Second Temple (@ 500 BC and later), was a sign of cleansing to be pure in the service of God. Nor was John the only exponent of baptism for the remission of sins but as the precursor of the one who would bring the ultimate baptism, that of the Spirit! Jesus’ baptism was necessary not for the cleansing of sin but for the anointing of the King, the Spirit descending like a dove announcing, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased!” Thus the character of baptism was changed forever, for as Jesus charged his followers as recorded by Matthew, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The baptism we receive is not that for remitting our sins but for us to receive the Holy Spirit as is recorded in the reading from Acts. In the Small Catechism concerning baptism, “St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3, ‘through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.’!” stained-glass-_1280 yann-1 from Pixabay January 9 thru 15 at CLC CLC Website: https://www.clcmillvale.com/ Youtube: clcmillvale ; Twitter: ChristMillvale ; Facebook and Instagram: #CLCMillvale. Christ Lutheran Church 917 Evergreen Avenue, Millvale, PA 15209 ~- ~ eMail:-~ www.clcmillvale.com