Baptism of the Lord (Year C, RCL)

Throughout scripture, human bodies are not an obstacle to righteousness; they are its location.

Our baptismal covenant is a beginning, not an ending.

When we resist the powers that oppress this world, we are baptized through fire.

John the Baptist's world and ours

About that baptism by fire

Can our baptism compel us to help mitigate the world’s disasters?

We stood along the highway in a blizzard, trying to hitchhike. We started reciting Bible verses to pass the time.

As anthropologists have shown us, cohesive communities usually have narratives, traditions, and symbols that have shaped their collective psyches and have powerfully bound them together. These traditional practices make up their thought world, and when a person is displaced from that world, it makes less sense to carry on the practices.

My father grew up in a clan society in pre-Korean War North Korea. His grandfather was head of the Shin clan.

When our collective symbols and stories no longer make sense in our reality, we question who we are. After exile and liberation, the ancient Israelites were so devastated that images of overwhelming waters and fire speak to them.

Until now I never appreciated the beautiful message of this week’s Old Testament passage. God’s promises to Israel—to not be drowned by water or burned by fire—make this text almost as comforting to its readers as the 23rd psalm.