Holy Wisdom Church
In the name of the father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
When I was a kid, I wasn't good at getting up out of bed in the morning. So, when calling me to get up didn't work, my father would go into the bathroom, get a washcloth, soak it in cold water and then come into my room and put it on my face! Now that was an effective wake-up call. It definitely got my attention. A new day was about to begin and I was going to have to do my part.
Water can be used for many things beyond drinking, irrigation, and cleaning. This is the time of year when we are inundated with football games leading to championship games, both college and NFL. At the end of a game, it is not unusual for the coach of the winning team to be doused with a huge barrel of water, or more likely, Gatorade. It can also happen in other outdoor sports, including baseball. It seems an odd way to celebrate a win. Being doused doesn't always have a positive connotation.
Did you ever have the experience of thinking you had come up with an idea or plan that you thought was special and telling someone else about it only to have the whole idea dismissed with the epitaph "you're all wet!" That is the verbal equivalent of someone pouring cold water on your idea. No wonder babies cry or scream when they get baptized! They don't want to get this early preparation for being told their ideas are no good.
The theme of water is explored from many angles in this feast. Prayers are said to purify the water of any unclean spirits. The purified water of baptism washes away our sins. The texts of the feast fill out the symbolic meaning. Here is the First Lity Sticheron.
Today, Christ the savior is baptized: * He who wears light as a cloak was pleased to become like us to save us. * Today he is covered with Jordan’s streams. * Though he has no need of cleansing, * by that cleansing he himself receives, he regenerates us. * O what a wonder, that without fire he casts anew, * and without shattering he fashions anew. * And those who are filled with his light are saved by him, ** by Christ the savior of our souls.
Today's celebration reminds us of our own baptism when we were submerged in water to symbolize dying and then rising to new life in Christ. Indeed, the Good News of the New Testament is about new beginnings, transformations from one state of being into another, transitioning from one life to an even better life. And indeed that is what our baptism represents, our entering into a new life with the promise of life eternal.
The symbol of the voice of God descending like a dove and revealing the ultimate truth about Jesus is a message to all of us with more than one dimension. The truth spoken is: "This is my beloved, pay attention to him." And if we pay attention to him, we too become the beloved of God. Indeed, we are created as the beloved of God, but we do not necessarily always believe it, maybe because we, too often, have been doused with the negative message that we are not good enough to be God's beloved. We may have come to believe that God doesn't even know us or pay attention to us or care about us. Today's feast reminds us that God does care about us, so much so that he sent his only begotten Son to lead us back into that knowledge of God's love for us.
Our joy on this festive day is waking up to the reality that out of love for us, God is always providing a new day for us, a new opportunity to grow in the likeness of Christ.
Glory be to Jesus Christ!
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