Baptism of Christ

Preached a rare sermon on the Baptism of Christ at Home yesterday. Word must have got out as, inevitably, it was the week when pretty much all the Home regulars decided not to come - someone must have tipped them off and coordinated the action.

Anyway, I enjoyed it! And it was great to get some country music in the service too - Alison Krauss's version of the old folk song "When I went down to the river to pray" seemed most appropriate.

In the sermon I went for the angle of the unconditional affirmation of the Father (remember, this event was before he did any of the stuff) setting Christ free to engage in 'pure action' i.e. not being controlled by people's opinions of him, or trying to manipulate people to get stuff from them (getting his needs met) but doing whatever was appropriate in the moment.

I suggested that contemplative prayer was a way of taking the bartering out of our relationship with God (I do good stuff, you do good stuff back etc. - the whole reward/punishment thing) in that through it we are becoming more aware of God's love and listening for God's approval, setting us free for pure action too.