THEOLOGICAL CLUE

The Baptism of our Lord received little or no liturgical attention in the predecessor lectionaries of the several churches; theoretically, it was one of three elements in the Epiphany celebration - Jesus' birth (and the visit of the wise men), his baptism, and his first miracle (sign) at Cana in Galilee. All of that changed with the adoption and appearance of the new lectionaries; the Book Of Common Prayer's lectionary is really the only major lectionary that doesn't mention the Baptism of our Lord in its listing of the readings, but it does assign virtually the same lections to the First Sunday after the Epiphany as do the churches that list it as the Baptism of our Lord. The Baptism of our Lord is the theme, the only theme and story, for the First Sunday after the Epiph…