A Spiritual Shower
Pastor Jason Joanie and I recently purchased my grandmothers home in Angier and this past week we started renovations. We’ve begun pulling out all the old cabinets in preparations to completely remodel the kitchen, dining and living rooms. Everything in the kitchen dates back to the 1960s when my grandmother and grandfather built the house. So, needless to say, there was some good old 1960s dust behind the old stove and underneath the old cabinets.
While it wasn’t the dirtiest job I’ve ever done, it most definitely left me with a dusty, sticky, 1960s layering of grime. And after we had finished work on the first day, a familiar feeling overcame me – a feeling that I often have after dirty jobs: There is nothing like a good bath.
After a hard day of physical labor or a stressful day of projects and deadlines, a hot shower cleans, refreshes and relaxes. In fact, that’s it only true for a the end of a day of work. It can also be true for the end of the year.
Think about it for a minute. You’ve just completed a whole year or living, working, planning, and laboring. There have been thousands of emotions from joy to sorrow, from laughter to stress, from curiosity to anxiety. And at the end of such a year, a good bath could do you some good.
When it comes to our spiritual life, many of us took a shower at some point in our lives to cleanse and renew and commitment ourselves to our spiritual walk. That shower was our baptism. So, perhaps after completing another long year, it would do us some good to remember that spiritual cleansing, that holy shower, called baptism.
And that is exactly what faith communities all over the world will do this coming Sunday as we celebrate Epiphany and the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a holy tradition in many communities on the first Sunday after Epiphany to remember our individual baptism as we reflect upon Jesus’ baptism.
(Side Note: Epiphany is January 6 and it is the day we remember the magi visiting Jesus to bring him gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh. Though we often adorn our manger scenes with three kings, we do not know that there were three of them and they did not come at the same time as the shepherds. In fact, biblical scholars say Jesus could have been as old as 2 years when the magi visited. More on that later this week…)
This Sunday during worship I invite you to take a spiritual bath. No, no, nothing crazy. At Hood MCC, we will simply remember our baptism by placing a mark of water on our foreheads as we reflect upon Jesus’ baptism and our need for cleansing, refreshing and renewal. I pray this will be a time for you to wash off the old dirt and grime from 2017 and be renewed for 2018.
This week at Hood Memorial Christian Church
Wednesday, January 3, 3:30pm – Prayer & Inspiration
Wednesday, January 3, 6:00pm – Choir rehearsal
Sunday, January 7, 11:00am – Worship