Liturgy
We greet you, God, with the dust of this world clinging to our feet.
We have walked in hard places and collected the grime of polluted paths.
The foul smell of injustice is all around us and sometimes even wafting up from
our toes.
But you have provided a pool of water, a place to wade into, fresh and clear.
God, wash us clean.
Give us a new start,
A way to begin again together.
We have been on the go all week, almost breathless from our hectic pace.
We get caught up in whirring motion and lose the song of meaning.
The friction of this life creates a confused rattling as we step.
But you have given us a flowing river, a cool stream that quiets life’s cacophony.
God, wash us clean.
Give us a new start,
A way to begin again together.
We are weighed down by the grief and pain we carry as we travel.
Sometimes we wonder if we can keep on keeping on.
Our feet sink into sand beneath us, mired in suffering we see and feel.
But you have put before us a vast ocean, a tide that will carry the ache away.
God, wash us clean.
Give us a new start,
A way to begin again together.
In the name of our creator God,
Jesus, the water of life,
And the Spirit who refreshes us.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
Scripture Reading
We invite you to hear from the book of Acts 8:26-38
26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the
south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he got
up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, [who] had come to
Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot,
he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go
over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him
reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are
reading” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he
invited Philip to get in and sit beside him….
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the
prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip
began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the
good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came
to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to
prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop,
and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and
Philip baptized him.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the Word of the Lord endures forever.
Amen.
Homily and Reflection
Are there areas in your life where you need to practice agency, repentance, or return?
How does the embodied experience of baptism fit into your story? How might you incorporate kinesthetic rituals into your spiritual practice?
Where might you need to lean into community for witness, support, or celebration? Where might you step up to provide this kind of community?
Resources
- Book: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley
Benediction
May you experience every day the gift of God’s grace.
Take a breath now as we are immersed in cleansing water.
Go on, one deep breath.
Hold it as God does her work — without you moving a muscle,
Without you even thinking good thoughts or pushing away doubts.
Now let it out, long and slow.
You are made new, reborn, revived from the grave.
Welcome to the resurrection.
Go, live, be.
In the name of our birthing God,
The baptized Christ,
And the Spirit who fills us.
Amen.
(Vox Prayer Team)
[Photo by Narain Jashanmal]