Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,

This is the weekend we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday and for many of us, the holiday tomorrow will be a “Day of Service” to our communities in one way or another–service to others and a greater good to honor and memorialize the model Dr. King’s life gives us.

It is also the Second Sunday after Epiphany in the Calendar of the Christian Year, the Sunday just after we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, and where we begin to understand what difference that baptism made. We may also wonder what difference those waters make for the baptized—for us.

When I was teaching ninth and tenth graders an introduction to the Bible as literature, a course called Judeo-Christian Tradition, we prepared for the term’s final exam by putting butcher paper around the classroom and drawing the narrative. Other teachers thought this was elementary (as in not rigorous enough) for this top-tier New England boarding school. However, I invariably learned something I hadn’t learned in seminary. Case in point:

As we stood back to look over our work and notice things together, one girl spoke up to say, “It looks like, every time they go through water, things change.” Oh? Can you say more?

“Well, it gets hard before it gets better.”

It was right there. The Exodus. The Wilderness. The Babylonian Exile. The Flight into Egypt. Jesus at the River Jordan. But before we followed the story and the journey in images around the walls, I had not noticed that or drawn the significance of the movement of the People of God through the water.

So, what happened at the River? So what?

On the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, we turn to wondering what difference that event made, has made, could make. Our Lectionary readings for Sunday are from Isaiah 49:1-7 in the Hebrew Bible and 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 in the New Testament.

Does what happened at the River explain who the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, what he did, and why? Does what happened at the River help us to know what we are called to be and do and why? What do you think think?

Come worship with us on Sunday—Streamers and Gatherers, Everybody. Come join us for a moment away from everything else we do to pray and sing and ponder and praise God who called and brought us through the waters of baptism. And who walks with us still. It will be good to be there with you in that conversation among friends, going along together, making God-sense of life as it happens, between meals. (Communion Sunday is February 1. Come then, too.) Hope to see you soon.

Love and hugs,

Rev. Liz

P.S. About this time of year, I often read King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. It is a stunning piece; to say “brilliant” is too little. Something new comes from it every time. Have a look: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/letter-birmingham-jail