Pastor's Weekly Message
the Baptism of the lord, 11 jan 2026
My Beloved Fellow Saints-in-the-Making,
Greetings in Jesus Christ, the Beloved Son of God the Father! A gloriously joyful Christmastide to you!
With the liturgical celebration of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christmas Season draws to its close. And while we might reluctantly (or perhaps simply matter-of-factly) begin to pack away our Christmas decorations, if we have not already done so, we remember that Christmas is but a Season and is meant to blossom into the fullness of why the Word became Flesh to dwell among us: to be our Lord and Savior.
As Sacred Scripture reveals, Jesus does not stay in the manger, just as no infant stays in his crib. “Jesus advances in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52), and He steps forth from the obscurity of His hidden years in Nazareth to begin His public ministry and to set His Face resolutely toward Jerusalem, where He will suffer and be crucified and from where He will conquer death and be raised from the dead bearing to us the promise of Eternal Life with Him.
This theological truth is reflected in many of our favorite Christmas hymns. When we sing the third verse of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” we proclaim that Jesus is “born that we no more may die, / born to raise us from the earth, / born to give us second birth.” When we sing “O Holy Night,” we remember that “long lay the world in sin and error pining, / ‘til He appeared, and the soul felt its worth. / A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, / for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!” And when we sing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” we proclaim boldly to “let nothing you dismay. / Remember Christ our Savior / was born on Christmas Day / to save us all from satan’s pow’r / when we were gone astray. / O tidings of comfort and joy!”
What we have sung at Christmas, God sings in His most wondrous way today at the Baptism of the Lord when “the Spirit of God descending like a dove” upon Jesus, God the Father announces that “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Thus begins the public ministry of Jesus Christ “to fulfill all righteousness.” Thus is the beginning of the fulfillment of every sacred Christmas hymn we have been singing since December (or since October for the more enthusiastic ones amongst us).
I invite you, therefore, today, to put everything aside and to listen to the sacred Christmas hymns that highlight the Faith that Jesus, the Word become flesh, has come for our salvation. Let the sacred Christmas hymns listed above become a prayer of thanksgiving to God for sending us His most Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. And then begin the new liturgical season with a greater sense of gratitude for why Jesus is born, why He is baptized in the Jordan by John, why He preaches and heals and loves as He does, why He suffers and dies, and why He is raised from the dead!
God love you! I do.
Fr. Lewis