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A compelling devotional by Day1 host Peter Wallace, designed to help people of all ages connect meaningfully with God as revealed in the Psalms.
Topic Features About Baptism
As It Was in the Beginning
Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11
Baptism of the Lord - 1st Sunday after Epiphany - Year B
January 08, 2012
The Rev. David Lewicki (PCUSA)Where did you begin? Where did your story--the story of you--begin?
Is it a birth story? Did you begin the night you were pressed upon by waves of fierce contractions, forcibly evicted from the dark womb to the light of this world?
Did you begin in a sweaty, lusty liaison between your parents (God forbid we think about that on a Sunday morning!), when your own unique mix of DNA was created?
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The River
Matthew 3:13-17
Baptism of the Lord - Year A
January 09, 2011
The Rev. Dr. Bill Leonard (CBF)In the story called "the River," Southern novelist Flannery O'Connor tells of the day that Bevel, a child of alcoholic and abusive parents, is taken to a baptizing by his sitter, Mrs. Connin.
I quote:
"Have you ever been baptized?" the preacher asked. "What's that?" he murmured. "If I baptize you," the preacher said, "you'll be able to go to the kingdom of Christ. You'll be washed in the river of suffering, son. You'll go by the deep river of life. Do you want that?" "Yes," the child said, and thought, "I won't have to go back to the apartment then. I'll go on to the river." "You won't be the same again," the preacher said. "You'll count. . . ." And without more warning he tightened his hold and swung him upside down, and plunged his head into the water. He held him under while he said the words of baptism. Then he jerked him up again and looked sternly at the gasping child. Bevel's eyes were dark and dilated. "You count now," the preacher said. "You didn't even count before." The little boy was too shocked to cry. He spit out the muddy water and rubbed his wet sleeve into his eyes and over his face. "Don't forget his mama," Mrs. Connin called. "She's sick." "Lord," said the preacher, "we pray for somebody in affliction who isn't here to testify." "Is your mother sick in the hospital?" he asked. "Is she in pain?" The child stared at him. "She hasn't got up yet," he said, in a high dazed voice. "She has a hangover." The air was so quiet he could hear the broken pieces of the sun knocking on the water.[i]
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