Lutheran Church of the Savior, Kalamazoo
Baptism of Our Lord, Lectionary Year A
Matthew 3:13-17
Every year we celebrate Jesus' baptism by John at the Jordan River because we need to hear anew that God's words for Jesus are for us also: we are beloved children of God. To make this point, I used one of my one-year-old son's favorite books, Water, Come Down! by Walter Wangerin Jr. as the basis for the entire sermon, and afterwards everyone came to the font to remember God's promise to them baptism.
Though the book plus the ritual took longer than I had planned, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the book is rocketing to the top of the congregation's best-seller list (or it would if such a list existed). In fact, I've decided that for the rest of this season after Epiphany we will begin worship with a Thanksgiving for Baptism based on the book's text. Micah even found a copy of the book in our church library! Really, he was toddling around while I was just sitting in a meeting in that room, and all of a sudden he plopped the book onto my lap and wanted to read. I had no idea we had a copy, but it's available if folks want a closer look.
Listen to this sermon here or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by searching "Tengwall."
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