First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, a Member Church of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. and More Light Presbyterians

Baptism of the Lord – January 13, 2019

Worship – 9:30 a.m.
Childcare is available for infants through preschool age, downstairs in Rooms 4 and 5 for morning and evening services
Fellowship Time – after worship
Sunday Seminar – 11:00 a.m.

From the Pastor/Head of Staff

The image is of a service of baptism at Lady Bird Lake, in Austin, Texas.

How close did God get to us in the Incarnation? It’s official in Church doctrine that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, but to what extent do we actually believe that? More than a few theological observers of American Christianity have noted our functional Docetism, which is the belief that Jesus was real, but he didn’t really have a body, nor did he really suffer. The reason for such functional belief has to do with the sense that what is holy cannot really get mixed up with what is not holy because when the holy gets mixed up with the profane, then the holy becomes polluted or corrupted. Well, what if that is not true? What if the Sacred can get mixed up with the profane, and still remain holy? Even more, what if when the Sacred mixes with the profane, the profane is made holy? Join us on Sunday as we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, hear Luke’s account of the baptism, and reflect on our own baptisms in the light of these kinds of questions.

Pastor David