Reference

Luke 3:15-18,21,22 Baptism of Jesus; Isaiah 43:1-3a Dont be afraid you are mine; Acts 8:14-17 Baptism in Samaria

Instead of celebrating the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of January, we moved this to the end so that we could explain Baptism to our Kid's Church (and also to create space to explore the escape to Egypt on January13)

Our questions for our faith exploration this morning were: What is baptism? Why do we do this? Does God love us without baptism?

So this ritual of welcoming God's children into a world-wide family and church family was named as important. The opportunity to invite the spirit to be with us in the ordinary, life-giving, life-sustaining water of life was named as important. The love of God, that doesn't need our rituals to be manifest was named as important. 

We were splashed with water to remind us of the promise and promises of baptism: to love and be loved by God; to follow the teachings of Jesus; to be good people in our community and the world.

Thanks be to God