You Are My Beloved Child
You Are My Beloved Child The Rev. Ryan Baker-Fones Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, speak to us of our beloved status and new life of grace in Jesus Christ your son. Amen. I love this story of the baptism of Jesus and it’s one that I often share with people who are struggling to find worth or forgiveness. In today’s gospel Jesus comes to be baptized by John. At first, John protests, but Jesus insists and John baptizes him in the river Jordan. And just as Jesus is coming up out of the water the heavens break open and the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove fluttering above Jesus’ head. And the voice of God speaks: “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In this scene we have all of the members of the Trinity assembled. Jesus coming up out of the water, the Holy Spirit coming down and resting on Jesus, and the voice of the parent and creator God affirming, claiming, and assuring Jesus. What’s so powerful about Jesus’ baptism and this amazing Trinity moment, is that it’s an example and prototype for each and every one of us. I LOVE baptisms. They’re such joyous events, aren’t they? Welcoming a new member into the body of Christ on this earth, the church. Happy family and friends, smiles, pictures, candles, maybe even tears of joy. The prayer just after baptism has a lot to say about what’s going in the sacrament of baptism: Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen. (Prayer after baptism, B.C.P., p. 308) At out baptism we receive the Holy Spirit. At our baptism we receive forgiveness of our sins. At our baptism we receive the grace of God. Just after the baptism we welcome the newly baptized with these words: We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood (B.C.P., p. 308) Welcome! You’re a part of God’s family, the Christian community. Together, with us, trust in the power of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Join in sharing God’s love forever. Did you notice the verbs here? Confess, proclaim, join. These are all commands. Ok, here we go, join us, it’s time to get to work. In the back of the prayer book, starting on p. 845 is An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism. Page 858 lays out for us the amazing transformation that takes place at baptism. I invite you to turn to page 858 with me now… Q. What is Holy Baptism? A. Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. We are adopted by God. The Creator of the universe has invited us to be full members of the family with all the rights and privileges of membership. We are inheritors of the amazing dream that God has in store for all of humankind. Through our baptism with water, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we also receive spiritual grace. Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism? A. The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God's family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. (From the Catechism/Outline of the Faith, B.C.P., p. 858) In our baptism we are united with Jesus in his death AND in his resurrection. With him we conquer death, like him, NOTHING, not even death, can separate us from the love of God. In baptism we are adopted, forgiven, and filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, and accompany us. There is a rarely used prayer for a baptism NOT followed by Eucharist, that sums it up quite well. All praise and thanks to you, most merciful F