The Baptism of Jesus
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
Since before Abram left Ur of the Chaldees, the Dharawal people have lived on this land of the Creator. We acknowledge their continuing connection with it, their living on country. We honour their elders past and present and pledge to journey together in their search for justice & reconciliation.
CHRIST CANDLE
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1 – 5) We light the Christ candle.
CALL TO WORSHIP
As we come to worship today, we head to the river Jordan. A place of transformation and identity.
If you find yourself hesitant and wary, stand at the shore and watch the light play on the water, or just dip your toes in. There are no rules of engagement, some of us will wade to our knees and splash around with joy, novice swimmers might think waist-high is far enough out, while others will dive into the deep. No matter where we are, how deep we have ventured, God longs to open the heavens to each of us as we dare to believe we are beloved children of God. Let us Pray…
HYMN
Love divine all loves excelling
Joy of heaven to earth come down
Fix in us your humble dwelling
All your faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, you are all compassion
Pure unbounded love impart
Visit us with your salvation
Enter every trembling heart.
Come, Almighty to deliver
Let us all your grace receive
Suddenly return and never
Never more your temples leave:
We would always give you blessing
Serve you as your hosts above
Pray, and praise you, without ceasing
Glory in your perfect love.
Finish then your new creation
Pure and spotless let us be
Let us see your great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee:
Changed from glory into glory
Till in heaven we take our place
till we cast our crowns before thee
Lost in wonder, love and praise.
CCLI Song # 1038991 Charles Wesley | Word & Music © 1986 Word & Music – The Jubilate Group (Admin. by Jubilate Hymns Ltd, sub to Hope Publishing for various regions) (Admin. by Hope Publishing Company)
For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
TODAY’S BIBLE READINGS
Psalm 29: 1-2, 11 (NIV) Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness. The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.
‘Ascribe greatness’ (repeat) (video no longer available)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXomINaDI0E
Ascribe greatness to our God the Rock
His work is perfect, and all His ways are just.
Ascribe greatness to our God the Rock
His work is perfect, and all His ways are just.
A God of faithfulness, and without injustice
Good and upright is he
A God of faithfulness, and without injustice
Good and upright is he.
CCLI Song # 31391 Mary Kirkbride-Barthow | Mary Lou King © 1979 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music. For use solely with the SongSelect® All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
Isaiah 43: 1 – 3a (NIV) But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
SIS 79 ‘Therefore the redeemed of the Lord’
Therefore the redeemed
Of the Lord shall return
And come with singing unto Zion
And everlasting joy, shall be upon their head.
They shall obtain
Gladness and joy
And sorrow and mourning
Shall flee away
CCLI Song # 26313 Ruth Lake © 1972 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia) For use solely with the SongSelect® All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
‘There is a redeemer’
There is a Redeemer Jesus God’s own Son
Precious Lamb of God Messiah Holy One.
Thank You O my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
Till the work on earth is done
Jesus my Redeemer name above all names
Precious Lamb of God Messiah
O for sinners slain.
When I stand in glory I will see His face
There I’ll serve my King forever
In that holy place.
CCLI Song # 11483 Melody Green © 1982 Birdwing Music (Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia)
Ears To Hear (Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia) Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by SHOUT! Music Publishing Australia) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
GOSPEL READING Ian & Kathy
Luke 3: 15 – 22 (NIV) The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.
But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” In this we hear God’s word!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Gracious God, you give us free will to choose how we will swim our own race of life.
We pray for your presence with us individually and as a church as we navigate the rivers of our lives.
When we’re heading upstream when it would be wiser to go downstream…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
When we are bashing into rocks when the better path would be to flow around them…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
When we cascade into a crevasse and are pummeled by the fall…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
When we covert the living water you offer and ignore those whose thirst is as great as ours…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
When floods inundate us and chaos and fear overwhelm us…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
When we forget to seek your life giving refreshment and our rivers run dry…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
Lord Jesus, baptized by John we are known to you by name and loved beyond measure;
we can be assured of your loving transforming presence. Thanks be to God! Amen
MESSAGE “Change from the inside out” Rev Paul Bartlett
You may remember the Colgate TV ad from 40 years ago featuring ‘Mrs Marsh’ who while talking about how great her brand of toothpaste was takes a piece of chalk, dips it into a glass of coloured water then takes it out, and breaks the chalk in half to reveal the degree to which the colour had seeped into the chalk. It’s supposed to reflect how Colgate gets into and protects your teeth!
Todays’ Gospel reading is a bit like that ad. John the Baptiser comes to wash us clean on the outside responding to our desire for a new beginning and a new focus for our daily lives. Many seek that cleansing. But having done that and the people no doubt felt better about the somewhat dramatic step they took in being baptised by water, John effectively says ‘but there’s more’. There is One coming after me who will wash you from the inside out through the work of the Holy Spirit. Yikes!
Now the Holy Spirit was not known then as we understand today the 3rd Person of the Trinity.
For the Jews of Jesus’ day who were familiar with their Scriptures (the Old Testament) the spirit of God ‘hovered over the waters of creation’, the word spirit also meant Wisdom, the wisdom found in the Psalms and Proverbs. They were also familiar with the phrase ‘the spirit of the Lord is upon me’ which was used referring to the work of the Prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah.
So to now link this life giving empowering spirit as something that would be given to and reside within each of us, that insight and gift was radical and new and scary!
But I don’t want to or need to be transformed THAT much Lord, we might say! Or do we?
It is one thing to publicly step into the Jordan and be baptised thus acknowledging our desire for some form of change in direction, but to be baptised by the Holy Spirit signifies a much more urgent need, a much deeper desire, a greater level of trust and a deeper level of love by the person.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to the very existence of let alone the growth of the Church is that most of the time we in the 1st world do not see the need for such a radical transformation. We are, if we’re honest, happy enough with who we are and happy enough with the purpose and focus of our lives.
So how do we move from ‘happy enough’ to something deeper and more life transforming for us and for those who will encounter this new you? It’s a choice we are all given every moment of every day.
And so on the 2nd Sunday of a New Year when new beginnings seem to be on at least some peoples radar we find this reading; and perhaps the words “it’s a choice we are all given every moment of every day” that in this phrase we might found a clue as to how we might respond.
But let us begin, slowly, after all we are all creatures of profound habit and routine inside & out.
If John when he baptised gave specific examples to soldiers and tax collectors about how their baptism by water new beginning might look like; then how might some of the ‘baptised by the Holy Spirit’ stuff look like in our lives? Because our Spirit led new beginning must come from the authentic core of our being, not just via a visible act that might only touch the surface.
Instead of saying to someone who is unwell: ‘All the best for your visit to the doctor tomorrow’ or ‘I’ll keep you in my thoughts for your visit tomorrow’s to the doctor’ you might say: ‘I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers tomorrow”.
Instead of thinking to yourself on hearing of someone in need: ‘well I hope in a general way that they’ll be okay’, and then move on to the next thing that grabs your attention; you might pick up the phone, write a letter or search the Internet to find out more. And then if appropriate give some financial support. If you respond financially then what you keep and use for daily life must reflect this act. i.e it must make a positive difference that others will see as to how you live your daily life.
Instead of ignoring a relationship you may have with someone else that could be better, you seek them out, it is not of the 1st importance who may or may not have been wronged, the key is that you take that 1st initiative. Why? Because that is exactly what God in Christ Jesus did and does, every day: takes that first step to reach out, to heal & to re-build.
The key then to all of these sorts of scenarios, above, is that our LORD is the One who then gets the primary credit; for example when you offer to pray for someone it is not so that they see your kindness but rather but the One for whom we are the channel of His Peace and healing touch.
These are the sorts of lives engaged with those we meet and know made possible through the gift, work and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. To Jesus’ name be praise and glory. Amen
HYMN – ‘Come to the water’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2RInZGfiv0
Come to the water You who are thirsty
Though you have nothing I bid you come
And be filled with the goodness I have to offer
Come Listen Live.
Why spend your money on what cannot fill
The emptiness deep in your heart
Listen to My word and you will enjoy
Goodness and peace in your heart.
Just as the heavens are high above earth
My ways and thoughts beyond you
Call me your Father and know I am near
I will be Father to you.
Just as the rain falls to water the earth
Just as a seed becomes bread
My word upon you can never return
Until My longing is filled.
CCLI Song # 7119456 Frank Andersen msc © 1978 Andersen msc, Frank (Admin. by Missionaries of the Sacred Heart) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com CCLI Licence # 31951
OFFERING
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Heather
HYMN
Here at Jordan’s river all is washed away.
As God’s reign draws nearer, nothing is the same.
Gone are class and status; gone, degrees and fame.
Grace alone can save us on God’s judgment day.
We at Jordan’s river meet on level ground.
Valleys are uplifted; mountains fall to earth.
None dare trust their lineage;
None need doubt their worth.
Still the prophet asks us, “Will you turn around?”
God, reform, renew, us; turn us toward your will.
Till our hearts for learning; root us in your word.
May the fruits of action grow from all we’ve heard.
As we lose our old lives, God, be with us still.
© Ruth Duck, Tune: Noel Nouvelet, TiS 382 (Now the Green Blade Rises) Pilgrim UC, Adelaide 2020.
BLESSING & BENEDICTION
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