Looking Into the Lectionary — Worship resources for 1/9

January 9, 2022 Baptism of the Lord  Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 COMMENTARY My children’s need for love astounds me. When they were younger, I would lie down next to them in bed after tucking them in for the night. We’d take each other in our arms and talk about the day, saying things reserved for whispered conversations in the moonlight. My son liked me to rub his back and sing “his song”— a simple tune I made up when he was a baby. My daughter wanted to dream about her future, about the horse barn she would one day own and all the animals she will care for there. When I would eventually move to pull away from my children, feeling the call of my own bedtime ritual of time with my husband, a hot bath and a good book, my children wanted more. Now, as preteens, they still want my love, all of it, as a steady drumbeat to their search for self. Even a child who is well-loved is insatiably hungry for more. In his book, My Bright Abyss, Christian Wiman writes: “In any true love – a mother’s for her child, a husband’s for his wife, a friend’s for a friend – there is an excess energy that always wants to be in motion. Moreover, it seems to move not simply from one person to another but through them, toward something else. This is why we can be so baffled and overwhelmed by such love: it wants to be more than it is; it cries out inside of us to make it more than it is. And what it is crying out for, finally, is its essence and origin: God.” The energy of love is, as Wiman says, baffling and overwhelming. It always wants to be more. This is where God steps in. In Luke’s surprisingly brief account of Jesus’ baptism, the words that stand out are God’s, spoken from heaven as Jesus emerges from the water, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). These blessed words of affirmation, love and praise from Father to Son stand out in stark contrast to John’s vision of a messiah who will appear with a winnowing fork in hand, ready to separate the wheat from the chaff. The words of God’s love are the words that will sustain us. You can find the rest of the commentary on our website. An order of worship for January 9, 2022. This liturgy is free to use. The Uniform Lesson for January 9, 2022, by Richard Boyce. “What My Grandmothers Taught Me” — Ruth by Rosalind Banbury 3rd Sunday after Christmas — Family faith formation for Jan. 9, 2021, by Rebecca Davis IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... Praying into 2022  Editor/Publisher Teri McDowell Ott offers a prayer for 2022. Two lessons learned by a human pastor who makes mistakes Rebecca Gresham-Kesner on the mistakes that challenge us, teach us, and point us towards God's grace.  God rested … can we? Eliza Jaremko reflects on rest and the sabbatical practices of the PC(USA) in the time of COVID. Companionship with veterans on the pathway to wellness The Christian military chaplain recognizes that we have a God who has chosen to identify with experiences of trauma and moral injury, says Murray Joseph Thompson. Sanctuary: Being Christian in the Wake of Trump As Neumark shares her own growth through personal and communal experiences, readers are reminded that people of all ages, cultures, orientations, and backgrounds teach and learn about Christ from one another. — Jennifer Pattee A reminder of faith It is that witness of the church and each of her members, past and present and still to come, from Abraham and Sarah to you and me, that enables me to say with absolute clarity and confidence: The last word of God will be love. — Jenny McDevitt

Copyright © 2021 Presbyterian Outlook, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 1 N. 5th St., Suite 500 Richmond, VA 23219