SUNDAY SERVICE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY January 19, 2025 11:00AM Sunday's Bulletin Extravagant Sign Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj, preaching Mr. John Strybos, Music Director, Organist Choir: Eliza Bonet, Robert Orbach, Susie Reisinger 
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Friendship and Fellowship Hour after 11:00 AM service in Bodge Lounge. Join us!
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Our gospel lesson for this Sunday is from St. Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22, it is the story of Jesus’ baptism. As Jesus used this event to understand his ministry - his mission among us. The first lesson from Isaiah 43: 1-7, and the second reading from Acts 8: 4-17, are a commentary on the life of Jesus as he was seen as the servant of God among the people calling them into righteousness and hope. The Baptism of the Lord reminds us to be faithful to his calling. In Jesus’ ministry, he calls all people into a relationship with him. He calls them as equals into a fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, and then asks each one to live responsibly as they seek to love Him and their neighbor.
We are going to see what it means to be in the baptized community of faith, what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ. As baptized children of God, we can say about ourselves that God has included all people as his children. Each of us are in God’s picture of salvation, not by our merits but by his request, his claiming us in baptism. After this event, our lives are a response to God’s saving grace in baptism. A response, not an insurance policy. Baptism brings us into God’s picture of salvation, but unlike real paintings, we can take ourselves out of the picture by living a life, which does not respond to God’s act of grace. God brought us into salvation by His power through our baptism. It is a picture of beauty however we can make salvation something less than beautiful if we remove ourselves from it by rejecting God, his word, his supper, his grace by removing ourselves from the community of faith. Baptism is not an insurance policy to heaven, but baptism is our boarding pass to a lifetime with Jesus. Baptism begins a relationship with Jesus, which is nourished, fed, strengthened, enriched, and kept alive by faithfully availing oneself to God’s means of grace, the word and the sacraments, especially communion. Our journey through life with Jesus needs the encouragement, the strength, and the lasting power of a faithful presence in and with the community of believers. Along with being included and wanted in God’s family, baptism allows us equal access to God’s grace. The good news of God through Christ, God is no respecter of persons. In God’s eyes all are equal. Because we are brothers and sisters equally in Christ, as the faithful community of Christ we care, help, pray for, support, those brothers, and sisters in the community as if they are indeed "blood relatives." Also, we pray for, minister to, and evangelize those who are not members of the body so they might know the love and grace we have experienced in Christ. We do not hoard the good news of Christ but give it freely to others. We are in the Epiphany season where we emphasize the light of Christ, the light, which shines in the darkness. Christ is a light which shines in our individual lives and at the same time a light, which is spread to others. Think about a candle for a moment. A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. In fact, it gains, because there are now two candles in which to see in the darkness. Instead of one light piercing the darkness, now there are two. Each light gives strength and courage to the other. Each soul, each person in the body of Christ gives strength, courage, faith, and hope, to the others as they walk together in the darkness of this world. Our light does shine in the darkness of this world. Our baptism which we have seen includes each person and is equally given to us to be responsible to each other as we walk the journey of faith. The body of Christ, the church, the community of faith is God’s gift to us through Baptism. Because it is a gift, we have no right to limit God’s gift, or restrict it, or somehow believe that it is ours. The body of Christ, the church knows no bounds. It is the gift of God to those who have experienced God’s grace in Baptism as our faith and trust in God’s grace might grow and mature. Join us in our worship on Sunday at 11:00 AM. If you would like to learn more of Christ love, please join us in our worship on Sundays at 11:00 AM. Peace! Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj |
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Contact us: Church Office: 101 Pondfield Road West, Bronxville, NY 10708 Email: [email protected] Phone: (914) 337-3829 |