Norman MacLean in his wonderful book, A River Runs through It, has this tremendous phrase: "I am haunted by waters." This Sunday in which we remember the Baptism of our Lord, is haunted by waters. Reminders and symbols, such as in the Prayer of Thanksgiving over the Water, which reminds us of all the ways that God created and recreated through water.

I don't know why the Baptism of the Lord Sunday falls on this Sunday every year. It is an ancient custom going back probably over a thousand years. But I think I know why. For thousands of years, people at this time of the year observed water rituals to celebrate the beginning of the new year, to announce that they could put behind them now the old, and receive the life that God is offering to them as a gift, and begin their lives over again. The floods were seen always as a recreation, offered to us so that we might enjoy the life that God has given to us.