Planning Worship
Focus texts: Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11
Water. Divine pronouncement. Blessing. When placed side by side, our Old Testament and Gospel readings draw out similar imagery and themes, inviting us to read the first creation story in Genesis alongside the baptism of Jesus to discover deeper meaning in two well-known texts. Of the many themes and connections we might draw out, one that’s less apparent yet pervades these texts is the way God pays attention. In Genesis 1, the author says that God saw and declared the light good. In Mark 1, the author doesn’t say anything about what God saw, but we do have this extraordinary response where the heavens break open and declare, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”—a sign that God was paying attention, watching Jesus’ baptism, and responding with divine affirmation of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.
The season between Epiphany and Lent varies from year to year, lasting anywhere from four to eight weeks, depending on where Easter—and thus, Ash Wednesday—falls on the calendar. Despite this variability, Baptism of the Lord Sunday is a constant. Every year, we return to the story of Jesus’ baptism, a narrative featured in all four gospels. But why? Why this story, told in all its variations? Chronologically, it doesn’t quite make sense. On Epiphany, we read about the magi visiting Jesus as a baby or very young child. So, shouldn’t the following Sunday be about Jesus, the precocious twelve-year-old who stays at the Temple three days while his parents search high and low for him? Some might say yes, while others might point out that Jesus’ baptism launches his earthly ministry and thus ought to launch us into Ordinary Time leading up to Lent and Easter. None of these arguments are wrong. But I wonder if, for those of us planning worship, this text makes liturgical and theological sense beyond these points. We’ve just come off a busy Advent and Christmas season that can send us spinning in all directions as we prepare for extra services, tend to family and community traditions, and somehow also shop for Christmas gifts and big Christmas meals at the church and at home. Yes, we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus, but as anyone who has welcomed a small baby into their home will tell you, once you’re past the initial celebration of this precious new life, you suddenly face the question: “What now?”
Baptism of the Lord is the church calendar’s answer to what now. In the meeting of heaven and earth, in the divine encounter within human ritual, in Christ’s participation in a human act of repentance, we discover what the Incarnation is about. Why God came as a vulnerable infant, why Jesus had to grow up and learn like any other human, why we don’t just skip from Jesus’ birth to Jesus’ death…the answer is in the story of Jesus’ baptism. Jesus’ baptism demonstrates God’s never-failing commitment to be with us, to live among us, to enflesh divine love, and to meet us where we are.
So, as you plan for worship this week, consider how you will infuse the worship service with opportunities for divine encounter through the mundane and the ordinary. Invite the young and young at heart to gently splash the water during the liturgy of baptismal remembrance, filling the space with the sounds and play of water. Give congregants an opportunity to touch the water to remember their baptism. Retell the story through a responsive reading in which the congregation “plays” the crowd, observing and reacting to Jesus’ baptism (feel free to take some artistic liberties!). Give congregants a card to post next to their sinks at home, with a short breath prayer or reflection question for the week, to encourage them to remember their baptism every time they wash their hands. And through it all, remind your congregation again and again that God watches over us and calls us good.
Author bio: Dr. Lisa Hancock, Director of Worship Arts Ministries, holds a Master of Sacred Music and Master of Theological Studies from Perkins School of Theology and a PhD in Religious Studies from Southern Methodist University, where she researched and wrote on the doctrine of Christ, disability, and atonement. Lisa is also the co-lead of Growing in Grace: Accessible Worship for All God’s Children.
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