The Collect
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and earth; Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle (Romans xii. 6)
HAVING then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.
The Gospel (St. Mark i. 1)
THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Epiphany II - Message in a Minute
The baptism Jesus brought is the baptism the church offers to all humanity. It is much more than the purely symbolic baptism of John. We baptize in the name of the Trinity, as Jesus told us to because baptism takes us into the life of the Trinity. God almighty lives his eternal life in us and through us by the Holy Ghost. We don't have to look at the Lord as someone or something out there as an abstraction -- we are united to him.
The sacrament of Baptism also attacks the root of sin. The people whom John baptized may have been quite sincere in their desire to change their ways, but after they got dunked they were still on their own. We know our best efforts and intentions are not enough; we need help from outside, and we need to apply it on the inside.
Baptism shows us that we are all connected. Having a resentful or judgmental or vengeful attitude toward our fellow Christians is forbidden because, what we do to other Christians, we do to ourselves. As St. Paul teaches, "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another." And, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."
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