This week, we enter into a new sermon series for the Winter (and church season of Epiphany) called “New Year, Same Promises”.
“New Year, new you”: this is the message we get from pop culture, year after year. We vow to make changes to our diet, exercise habits, or lifestyle, but in spite of those resolutions, most things stay the same. This may be cause for disappointment, but there is some consistency we can celebrate. God’s promises to us do not change with the calendar or the latest fitness trend. Rather than focusing our energy and attention on making (and in all likelihood breaking) promises to ourselves, let’s spend the first part of the new year appreciating God’s unbreakable promises.
This particular week, as we witness the baptism of Pastor Jessie’s baby boy Blake and also ponder Jesus choosing to get baptized, we consider God’s way of taking something old and traditional and making it new and reimagined—a new way of telling us the same message. We are beloved!