Welcome Back!
We begin the Winter term this week with syllabus day, prep week, and RFS 1 (Residential Focus Session)! Prayers for all of you who will be traveling to St. Paul this week. For those of you coming from warmer regions, dress warm!
Our first official event for Chapel and Spiritual Life will take place on Saturday at 11:00am in the Chapel of the Incarnation. This is our Super Simple Saturday Service to greet all the RFS students to campus and start things off with scripture, prayer, and singing. It will be in-person only.
Then, on Monday, we have a special treat for Chapel…
First, we welcome Dr. William P. Brown as our guest preacher.
Second, we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus during this service. We will begin the service with a Thanksgiving for Baptism and the practice of aperges, or the sprinkling of water, to renew our baptismal identity.
It should be a great service. Join on YouTube if you are not local.
We’ll begin the normal rhythm of Communal Spiritual Practices on Tuesday, January 20. Be sure to subscribe to the Luther Community Calendar to keep in the loop.
A Meditation on Jesus’ Baptism
We begin the journey through the Epiphany season by observing Jesus’ baptism. The term epiphany comes from the Greek word that means “to manifest, display, show off; come suddenly into view.” It is the season where Jesus shows up in the public scene and starts to change the world.
His public ministry begins with a humble act of submitting to John the Baptist’s invitation to repent and be baptized. The word repent means to change your perspective or the way your think about things. Jesus had spent the first thirty years of his life in obscurity. Now, it was time for him to change his mind and step into action to fulfill his calling as the Messiah.
Two important things happen at Jesus’ baptism. First, a voice from the heavens claimed Jesus as a beloved and pleasing son. Second, the Holy Spirit rested upon him in the form of a dove.
The dove-spirit shows us two important aspects of who Jesus was and what he was called to do. First, he is the anointed one. That is the literal definition of the word Messiah. The Holy Spirit of God came upon all the leaders of Israel. Now it is Jesus’ time to lead the people. Second, the dove is a symbol of peace. This Messiah was not leading the people into war, he was leading them into Shalom.
May we, as Christian Public Leaders, follow Jesus’ example. May we walk humbly, accept our vocation as leaders, know that we are beloved, and lead our people into Shalom.