How to Make a Fresh Start

Today is the first Sunday after Epiphany, and historically the church has commemorated our Lord’s baptism by John in the Jordan River. It had been three decades since God’s Voice was heard in the events of the Nativity, and four centuries before that when the last voice was heard from the prophets in the Hebrew scriptures.  God’s powerful Voice returns through John, and especially through Jesus at his baptism; and we hear through that Voice the inauguration of a new, Spirit-filled ministry in the world . As we remember Jesus’ baptism we are reminded of our own, and all that that entails, including our being united with Christ, our entry into the community of faith, the communion of God’s holy people (including our loved ones who have died), and the reception of the Holy Spirit, ensuring that his Voice now continues to be heard by and through us, his Church.