Anticipation...

We may not love standing in line. In fact I've once heard hell described as standing in line while throwing up! Yet every year people stand in line for hours at ridiculous hours of the morning to get some electronic gadget. Whether or not you've taken part in the annual vigil that has become Black Friday, I think you know what it's like to anticipate something exciting. The crowds that came out to hear John the baptist could feel the electricity in the air! Could this be the Christ!? The Promised Savior of the world!

Take a read or a listen to Sunday's sermon on the Baptism of our Lord and consider these questions. See your baptism as God's concrete proof of your forgiveness.

• Can you think of a time when you appreciated honesty even when it wasn't good news?

• What tempations do you have to not be honest with your God?

• Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew that he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. What does Jesus' baptism mean to you?

• When witnessing about the power of infant baptism, it's better to start with original sin and conversion that baptism itself. How would you explain infant baptist to a Baptist?

• How do you celebrate your baptism?

• John the Baptist's baptism and Jesus' baptism instituted at his Ascension are really the same thing - a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

• The voice of God the Father at Jesus' baptism applies to me even when I sin. How?