I suspect that, having made it to mid-January, you would say that you have successfully survived the holidays. True? The celebration of our Savior’s birth — Christmas; then the New Year; finally the Feast of the Three Kings on January 6th — Epiphany (which for many has become the Feast of Taking Down the Decorations!). Today I want to suggest that there is one more holiday we should be observing — this day, the one the liturgical calendar designates to remember the Baptism of the Lord.

If the witness of scripture is to be taken seriously, this day must be even more important than those others. After all, only Matthew and Luke record anything about Jesus’ birth, but all four gospels report his baptism, plus Acts and Romans. In fact, in centuries past the church did celebrate this day even mo…