Guilsborough: Matins 10[th] January 2010-
Lord give me this day my daily opinion, and forgive me the one I had yesterday.

I was getting worried recently that, after some years of standing here and trying to make sense on Sundays I might get afflicted by that dreaded evangelists' disease  -  preacher's  block.  
When I see my name on the list for the Lay Band and think about what I might say, I look of course at the readings for the day and somehow or other, a thought creeps into my mind and I climb onto the learning curve again.   
So this being the Sunday when we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, as a start I consulted the Oxford English Dictionary to discover the difference, if any, between Baptism and Christening. 
I had in mind that last year we had experience of both. .  A friend, aged 44, underwent total immersion at a Baptist church in Peterborough and later in the year my three year old grandson, sitting in the arms of father Christmas lookalike vicar, took his christening in good part in Oakfield,  Somerset,  while his elder sister,  who being a baby, could not remember her own Christening in the arms of John Tarrant at Hollowell, stared up open mouthed at what was going on.   
Anyway,  I've  found  what most of you are probably aware of already, namely., that there is really very little difference between a Christening and a Baptism. .   Christening is defined in its primary meaning as  "Conversion to, or reception of, Christianity, becoming a Christian". 
 Whereas baptism has wider connotations,  " immersion of a person in water, or application of water, by pouring or sprinkling, as a religious rite symbolical of moral purification or regeneration and, as a Christian ordinance,  betokening initiation into the church" 
Although christening later I think became associated with naming .both  Mary and Elizabeth were, of course, told by angels in the case of Jesus and John the Baptist, what the names were to be.  
Old Testament prophets baptised people symbolically to wash away their sins. And the  The baptism of Jesus' has then  meaning of taking away the sins of all mankind, to wash away the sins of the world.  Hence the moral purification aspect of the meaning. 
That Jesus chose John the Baptist  -  possibly his cousin  -  to do this makes John one of the most important figures in the Bible.  He seems to have had a huge, popular,  following by this time. St Mark tells us that " there went out unto him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan confessing their sins. 
The impact of John's baptisms, then, was very great.  And He preached a simple message to go with it.   The Kingdom of God was coming soon: people needed to be purified. So repent of sins and do good works.   His message had much in common with the great Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament.  His following was great because his message was simple.  Something politicians to-day might take to heart. 
As St. Luke reports it  "  the multitude asked him [ John ]  saying what then must we do?   And he answered saying he that hath two coats, let him impart one to him who has none."  He told others, such as tax collectors, soldiers what they had to do  -  be honest and fair.   So, to sum up, the Baptist's message was repent, be good, be generous, and that message lay at the heart of Jewish scriptures and had done over the ages.  And among those scriptures was the centrally important message that thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,  which first appears in the Bible, I have only recently discovered, in the Book of Leviticus. 
While in Matthew, Mark and Luke's gospels, the writers seek to emphasise that Jesus had an entirely separate ministry from John,   it is clear from other parts of the New Testament that John's impact  -  separate  though it was - had travelled far and wide  after his death.  In the Acts for example, when St. Paul goes to Ephesus he asks whether some disciples had received the "holy spirit"  They say that they have never heard of the Holy Spirit.  This prompts Paul to ask " Into what then were you baptised? And they tell him into the baptism of John.  So he tells them about Jesus and Paul effectively Christens them.  
Another interesting aspect of John's Baptism of Jesus is that he may not have recognised the young man who came to him and emerged from the river Jordan as the promised Messiah.  I hope this is not heretical, but when I looked again at the story of John the Baptist and commentary on it,   one writer makes the point that when he was in prison, with death likely,  John sends his followers  to ask Jesus if he is the one  "who is to come."   But if John had believed that Jesus was the Messiah he surely would not have needed to ask that question.  So presumably he did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah at the time when he baptised him.  
John, then, just before his own violent death,  was asking Jesus  "Are you the Messiah or aren't you? " And Jesus' reply about healing the sick etc. means  that there are other ways of God showing himself, through a healing ministry and preaching to the poor. .
So much for this amateur's commentary on  the Gospel for to-day and some of its ramifications. 
The question for us  is the practical one of putting into practice in our lives. the message of  John on that day he baptised Jesus  , and of course its further elaboration by Jesus 

Have we got two coats?  Most of us have more I would guess: perhaps it's time to get rid of some to the Salvation Army and look at our overstocked wardrobe.  
Is there an extra charity we could help? The Sunday Papers are full of horror stories of people crying out for help both here and abroad. Don't forget the Gurkhas, Sudan's in a mess. What about Ethiopia?  A disaster is looming in the Congo; there's child abuse in Luton, animal welfare is running out of money, human trafficking is a scandal.   Sometimes, I agree one get a bit overwhelmed by the cires for help and wonders how, even in our own country,  in this age of the Welfare State, so many seem to be in need. 
But one of the glosses that Jesus put on John's message was that from those whom much is given, much will be expected.   The Lent Lunches are coming up as is Christian Aid week. In short there are, if we look around, plenty of opportunities to put into practice John's message at the time of the Baptism of Jesus  and not just with a cheque. 
It's not enough to come to church,  say one's prayers and listen to the Bible. We have to get out and do things showing that we stand for Christian values. As C S Lewis said " Do not waste time bothering whether you love your neighbour, Act as if you did. "  
 The point was well made by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem The Vision Beautiful  about the monk who spent most of his life in pious contemplation  One day Christ appeared in his cell.  He fell to his knees started to worship. But then a bell rang and he had to decide whether or not leave the room  to hand out food to the poor who came to monastery's gates a midday. The vision did not speak.  The monk finally decided, with some misgivings, that he would go and feed the poor.. And this is how  the story ends with the monk remembering Jesus' words that 
   
'Whatsoever thing thou doest
To the least of mine and lowest,
That thou doest unto me!'
'Unto me!' but had the Vision
Come to him in beggar's clothing,
Come to medicant imploring,
Would he then have knelt adoring,

Thus his conscience put the question,
Full of troublesome suggestion,
As at length, with hurried pace,
Towards his cell he turned his face,
But he paused with awe-struck feeling
At the threshold of his door,
For the Vision still was standing
As he left it there before,
When the convent bell appalling
From its belfry calling, calling,
Summoned him to feed the poor.
Through the long hour intervening
It had waited his return,
And he felt his bosom burn,
Comprehending all the meaning,
When the Blessed Vision said,
'Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled!' 
So I submit that in 2010 with Jesus Christ our lives
We should work for him in as many practical ways as possible.  Perhaps a fresh baptism for ourselves is what Christianity will mean this year. And as CS Lewis put it  "Don't waste your time bothering whether you love your neighbour, act as if you did." 
Teach us good Lord to serve thee as thou deserves, to gi ve and not to count the cost top fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and to seek for no reward save that of knowing that we do thy will  -  Amen. 
