Interrupted by God. Tracey Lind
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Interrupted by God - Tracey Lind страница 12
Название: Interrupted by God
Автор: Tracey Lind
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Изобразительное искусство, фотография
isbn: 9780829820713
isbn:
In Jesus’ baptism by John, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven proclaiming, “You are my Son; the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22). When Jesus was baptized, all the cosmic energy, all the God-stuff of the universe came together and descended upon him: firm and clear, yet gentle like a dove. When Jesus was baptized, I imagine that his ancestors in faith—Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah, Moses and Miriam, Joshua, Naomi and Ruth, Jesse, Eli, Hannah, Samuel, David, Solomon, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, Micah, Jonah, Ezra, Esther, Zachariah, and all those who came before in the name of God—all stood and witnessed this event by River Jordan. For in that moment, Jesus was the whole reason they had existed at all.
Throughout the centuries, as individuals have been presented to Christ at the font of baptism, this family lineage we call the apostolic succession—the hand that touched the hand that touched the hand—has grown and expanded across oceans and deserts, through fields and forests, on slave ships, in prisons, and in courtrooms. In the waters of baptism, generations have been drowned and raised to new life, marked with the invisible, yet permanent, brand of the cross. In this sacrament of new birth, generations have affirmed an ancient and yet living covenant to be one with God and one with neighbor, saying “yes” to righteousness and “no” to injustice. In this act of initiation, generations have passed from the chains of bondage to the mantle of freedom. And whenever and wherever baptism takes place, the significance of this action, the power of this sacrament, is the same. God says, “I will have you as my own; you will be my beloved; and I will send Jesus, my anointed one, to be your guide and teacher.” And we respond saying, “I will have you as my own; you will be my God; and I will follow Jesus, your anointed one, as my guide and teacher, my Lord and Savior.”
As I held Siah and looked into her eyes, and those of her parents, I saw the future. Preparing to wash a small and helpless infant with the waters of baptism and to anoint her with the oil of chrism (an act which she would not even remember), I exclaimed that perhaps I was baptizing a future president of Liberia. Every Liberian immigrant and every other immigrant in a church filled with immigrants from all over the world smiled, applauded, and proclaimed, “Amen.”
On that January morning, during an ordinary Epiphany service, in an Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey, one congregation and its rector realized the promise of the incarnation. Through the baptism of Jamelle Siah Phillips, we came to understand that, “in every child who is born under no matter what circumstances and of no matter what parents, the [potential] of the human race is born again.”3
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.