The Anglican Church of All Saints

Click here to read the sermon for The Baptism of Christ – 12th January 2025

25th January – Saturday

3:30pm – Messy Church

Don’t forget the next Messy Church Saturday 25th January.
For more information please contact Fiona on +34 623 39 24 99

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26th January – The Third Sunday of Epiphany

11am Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher Mtr Fiona Jack

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27th January – Monday

11:30am – Kirker Holidays Music Festival

Christopher Monckton
Plays works by
Johann Sebastian Bach and Charles-Marie Wider
Bach trio sonata (no.5 in C Major) and Widor’s Fifth organ symphony ending with his famous toccata.
Admission Free. Donations Invited. Drinks after the concert.

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29th January – Wednesday

10am Said Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher Mtr Fiona Jack

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2nd February – The Presentation of Christ in the Temple – Candlemas

11am Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher Mtr Fiona Jack

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Baptism of Christ Sermon – 12th January 2025
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

At the start of a new year, many of us naturally think about journeys. Perhaps you’re planning holidays, considering career changes, or just reflecting on where life is taking you. Personally, my recent birthday gave me one of those moments of pause—what will another journey around the sun bring?

Our Gospel today invites us to reflect on journeys, too. We’ve just celebrated the journey of the Magi, those wise travellers who went on a long and arduous journey, following a new star to come and lay gifts at the crib of the infant Jesus. And today, we witness Jesus at the start of his most significant journey: his earthly ministry, launched by his baptism by John in the river Jordan.

Baptism marks the beginning of a new chapter—both for Jesus and for us. It’s not just a ritual; it’s a commitment, a stepping into a life lived in faith. Whether you were baptised recently, like Tara here in church two weeks ago, or many years ago, this is an appropriate time to remember what baptism means and how it shapes our journey of faith.

Before any journey, there’s a period of preparation. Think of a holiday: packing suitcases, making sure our passports are up to date, planning routes, filling the car with petrol, making sure we’re in the right frame of mind, finding a companion for the journey. The journey of faith requires preparation, too. What might that look like, I wonder?

Jesus prayed as he was baptised. Luke’s Gospel emphasises this, showing prayer as central to his life and ministry. Prayer is like the food and drink we pack for the journey—it sustains us, revives us, and keeps us going when the road gets tough. It’s an essential item, something we can’t manage without. It’s one of the main ways we communicate with God, and equally importantly that God communicates with us.

But prayer isn’t just asking for God to help us in difficult situations. It’s as much about listening as speaking, hearing what God might want to say to us. And equally importantly, we’re sustained by other people praying for us. Some years ago, a teenage member of the serving team at my former parish went to Ghana for the best part of a year to volunteer before going to medical school. It wasn’t the easiest thing for an 18-year-old to do and took some courage. She put together a diary for all the days she was away and asked people in the congregation to write down their name against the day they would be praying for her. Knowing someone prayed for her each day gave her strength and perspective during difficult moments.

And this brings us to another point: Jesus’ baptism was very public, in front of a large crowd, not something that happened in private. This is why our baptisms today take place in front of the congregation during a main service. It reminds us that when we are baptised, we become part of a new social world, a community of people who confess the Christian faith. The thing is – just in the same way that travelling without a companion can be a lonely experience, on the journey of faith, we can’t go it alone either. We need one another for encouragement and help when things are challenging, as we know from our experience of life that they can be. That is why we meet here every week, to be in community with one another, to break bread together and to pray for ourselves and others as well as the wider world. I think more than ever we’ve realised over the last few years that we are hard-wired to be in communities – and that we’re stronger together.

Finally, baptism reminds us that God is always with us on this journey, our most important companion. The signs and symbols of baptism are rich in meaning. Baptism is a sacrament. A sacrament is defined as an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace. We make the sign of the cross on the candidate’s forehead, to show that from the day of their baptism, they belong to God’s family. We use the symbol of water to cleanse, we ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit to come upon them, a sign of God’s power dwelling in them; and we give them a candle to remind them to shine as a light in the world and let others see the faith they have professed at their baptism and why it matters to them. All these signs show that God has put his indelible seal on everyone who is baptised as they start their new journey of faith. These symbols aren’t just for the day of baptism of course but for us throughout our life as a reminder of our baptismal promises. Many of us probably don’t remember our baptism if we were baptised as infants, and so it’s useful to revisit them now and again. We can be sure that whatever challenges or joys lie ahead this year, we know that we’re not alone. God is our companion, guiding and strengthening us at all times.

As we reflect on Jesus’ baptism, let’s ask ourselves – where is God calling us to journey this year? How can we prepare for the road ahead, spiritually and practically? How can we support others in their journeys of faith? Let’s begin this year by recommitting to the promises of our baptism, knowing that, like Jesus, we are loved by God and empowered by his Spirit.

And here’s Malcolm Guite’s sonnet on the baptism of Christ :
Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Spirit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings,
‘You are beloved, you are my delight!’
In that swift light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river,
To die and rise and live and love forever.

Mtr Fiona Jack
Chaplain