Worship Preview 1.12.25 "A Sacramental Life" and "Pigpen"

This Sunday: 10:30am – “Baptism of Christ Sunday.” Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching. Scriptures: Matthew 3:1-17, Colossians 1:13-23, and Hebrews 12:1-3

We move into the season of Epiphany and traditionally this 2nd Sunday of the new year celebrates the Baptism of Christ. This event is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospels. Each recount that John the Baptist, the son of Mary’s relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah as told in Luke 1, has gone into the wilderness and, like the prophets of old, begins preaching a fiery message of repentance, offering a symbol – baptism, an expansion of a Jewish purification rite, and proclaiming the coming of the Messiah.

As I was considering the Peanuts cartoons of Charles Schulz as a fun connection to Advent, one of the things that made me decide to do that was a flash of insight. The early disciples would have smelled! Fishermen, shepherds, even tax collectors like Levi, would have been, by our modern standards, quite dirty. My mind went to Pigpen. This character was only featured in about 100 of Schulz’s 50,000 Peanuts cartoons but he has long been among my favorites and I knew I had to continue the series until this Baptism of Christ Sunday. Like dirt and dust cling to Pigpen, so our own sin clings to us – and yet through Christ we are made clean!

Last week we didn’t gather in person because of the ice storm, but I encouraged everyone to read Matthew 1 and 2. A genealogy that points us to several challenging stories of sin, repentance, grace, and inclusion through the women named and an account of Jesus’ birth focused on the dreams and symbols through which Joseph and the Magi come to understand who this child is. Then troubling stories of slaughter and flight to Egypt. It is a very different story than Luke’s and it challenge us, like the Magi, to “take a different road.” This week, with the season of Epiphany, we begin exploring how Jesus shows us what that looks like.

In Matthew 2, Jesus is maybe 2 years old, perhaps a bit older when the move to Nazareth, but we have no further stories. Luke 2 gives us 1 story, which we read a couple weeks ago, of Jesus around age 12 amazing people in the Temple, but everything else we have is about Jesus around age 30. Mark begins with the story of Jesus’ baptism, Luke and Matthew both share it in their 3rd chapter, and John talks of John the Baptist in the wonderful and poetic 1st chapter that gives a more cosmic view. So all 4 Gospels use this encounter with his “cousin” John to proclaim Jesus as fully human, and fully God.

As God’s self-revelation, Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized. As our example of what God intends for humanity to be, Jesus participates in all it means to be human and initiates this way of joining the people of God. Just as he institutes the sacrament of Holy Communion – two visible and outward symbols of inward and spiritual grace. We normally celebrate Holy Communion on the 1st Sunday of each month, but since we were iced out last week, we will gather at the table this week and explore what it means to live a sacramental life. We’ll also look again at the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer. Our faith as United Methodists is not about rigid agreement on a creed or single understanding of the mystery of Christ, rather it is a shared commitment to living it out. We come to the waters of baptism, we come to the table of Christ, we bring our full and flawed selves, and we experience God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the beloved community of Jesus. The communion table is open to all and you are invited!

If you do not have a church home, or if it’s time for a change, we invite you to take this journey with us. We meet each Sunday at 10:30am at 301 S. National. Come as you are, wear what you have, and join with others as we sing, pray, and seek to to find our path and share our journey!  

Upcoming Events: 

Wednesday, January 15th –This free meal is available to everyone without obligation. A “to-go” meal is distributed under the portico at 301 S. National. A reminder: Please do not block nearby driveways while waiting. Thank you. If you would like to support this ministry, you can make donations online at: www.firstumcfortscott.org/onlinegiving. 

2025 FELLOWSHIP SOUP LUNCHEONS –will usually consist of 2 types of soup, chili and pies. A freewill offering  is requested to help fund our mission and ministries as designated below. Each meal begins at 11:30am and runs until we run out or 1pm.

Friday, January 24th will benefit the Mission Committee and Friday, February 29th will benefit Feeding Families. Then Friday, March 14th will be the United Women of Faith Potato bar instead of a soup lunch.