Hi everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to update everyone on our four-year-old, Ben's, cancer fight. We are moving through it and just finished a very intense phase of treatment. Praise God. More on the podcast.

A Baptism of repentance is something people do, but A baptism of the Holy Spirit, that is not about what people are doing, but instead it is about what God is doing. It is a baptism of renewal. It is more than a person repenting. It is the Lord saying, I am recreating you in my Spirit. That is the baptism we Christians receive. That is the baptism that Jesus sent his disciples to give.

Jesus came from Galilea, and asked John to baptize him as well. Jesus was, is, and always will be God. He is perfect. Jesus asking John to baptize him is backwards. The baptist’s own words made it clear that John fully understood this, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14)  It is all wrong, or at least it seems wrong. Jesus has no need of John’s baptism. And yet, this is his first recorded act in all four Gospels. There is obviously something important happening here. We, as readers and followers of Christ, must ask the question, “Why does he do it?” Why does he travel from Galilea to Judea to be baptized by John when he has nothing, personally, to repent for?

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There is a reason the St. Joseph is held up as such an example. It was not an accident that God chose this man to be his earthly role model. And we should not miss the opportunity to take St. Joseph as our role model either.

This week it seems like we need to reflect on who Christ says he is, and who he says we are. Are we allowing him to be who He is? Can we believe who that we are who he has made us to be?

John the Baptist, in the Spirit of Elijah, announced that the Messiah was coming and that he would separate the wheat from the chaff. Read that as, “the real followers from those who just said they were his followers.” We need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide our thoughts, and our actions, so that when the Lord comes again we will be counted amongst those who were actually following him. .

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Yes, joy is in the air. You’d expect the Sunday Gospel to be John the Baptist announcing the coming of the Lord, or maybe even the Angel appearing to Mary. Those are readings I think of when I think of Christmas. But remember, we are not in Christmas. We are in advent and Advent is a little different. It’s more like pregnancy. Expecting a baby is super joyful. But, it is also a time of preparation. And, to be quite frank, I am told it can be more than a little uncomfortable at times.

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Christ died on the cross for our sin. He didn’t have to do it. He chose to do it out of love for you and for me. Remembering what he has done, we need to look at the witness of the two criminals and ask, how are we responding to the crucified Lord? Do we revile him? Do we ungratefully come to the Lord, and accuse him of not doing what we want? Do we question who he is because of the hardships we encounter? Or, like the second criminal, do we acknowledge his righteousness, confess our own sin, and ask for mercy? It’s a gut check. Do I treat God like he is Lord, or do I call him Lord, and ask him to do what I want, as if I was the master?

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Are you ready to give your testimony? If called upon, can you tell a person why you are a follower of Christ or why you live so differently than those who are not following Christ? If you say no, that’s ok. Remember, Jesus actually tells the apostles not to prepare what they will say. They are supposed to trust that he will provide the words. So, we are not supposed to have prepared answers. No, instead we are supposed to enter into conversation, debates, and even persecution with an openness to the Lord, asking him to open our ears, and to provide the right words.

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