I Am Baptizing You with Water, but One Mightier Than I Is Coming

Sunday, 10 January 2016 * The Baptism of the Lord * www.stjosephparish.org “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Þre.Ó Crossing the Waters FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. JANUARY 10, 2016 The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks Homily Next Week: from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless rain- Deacon Steve Wodzanowski drops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. Readings for January 17, 2016 FIRST READING: ISAIAH 62:1-5 I am haunted by waters. SECOND READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11 -Norman Maclean- GOSPEL: JOHN 2:1-11 Weekend Mass Schedule The year before I came to St. Joseph I spent in Santa Cruz, along the Saturday - 5 pm California coast. Each morning—rain or shine, fog or wind—I would Sunday - 9:00 am, 11:00 am & 5:30 pm go out and walk along the shore, sometimes gazing at the waves from the bluff above, sometimes walking right beside the foam, step- Weekday Mass Schedule ping quickly aside when a particularly ambitious wave sought to Monday - Friday, 7 am, Parish Center soak my tennis shoes. And walking along, usually sipping a cup of coffee, I would listen to the voices in the water, and feel the presence Reconciliation Saturday - 3:30-4:15 pm in the Church all around me: ghosts of my parents and grandparents, memories of or by appointment friends from long ago or those far away, images of the women and men with whom I had ministered, and of those to whom I had been Parish Center called. It was as though, in what one poet called “our great grey 732-18th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112 mother,” all lives flowed and all the souls of the living and the dead could be felt. It has always been that way for me at the ocean, or in- Monday- Friday - 8 am - 4:30 pm deed, almost anywhere that natural waters gather and flow. Whether Saturday - 9 am-1 pm along the Metolius River in Oregon, or at Hayden Lake in Idaho, www.stjosephparish.org there is always a sense of vastness and connection, something primal Parish Receptionist (206) 324-2522 and eternal. Like Norman Maclean, “I am haunted by waters.” Pastor Yet, I do not think myself alone in this experience. Water is a primal Rev. John D. Whitney, S.J. x107 force, present in the mythology of nearly every culture, a central im- [email protected] age and condition of humanity. In ancient Greece, Thales believed Deacon/Pastoral Associate that water was the source of all being; while in Genesis we are told Steve Wodzanowski x106 of the four rivers—the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphra- [email protected] tes—which circle the Garden of Eden. Our own Northwest sense of Pastoral Staff: space and time, of culture and identity is shaped by the vast waters Dottie Farewell, Dir. Religious Ed. x112 [email protected] of the Puget Sound, by the roaring waves of Ocean Shores, by the Rebecca Frisino, Business Mgr x108 hard rain falling on a shake roof or the gentle trickle rattling in a [email protected] downspout. Our memories are filled with puddles and rivers, with Tina O’Brien, Stewardship x114 mountain streams and swimming in ice-fed lakes. As human beings [email protected] we know that it is water that sustains us, water from which we come: Jack Hilovsky, Communications Mgr x113 [email protected] the water we bear within us, like a sea pulsing in our veins, and the Renée Leet, Admin Assistant x100 water that comes out of us in the sweat of our brow and the tears of [email protected] our losses. Bob McCaffery-Lent, Liturgy & Music x109 [email protected] We are all “haunted by waters”—a reality John the Baptist knew, as Caprice Sauter, Administration x102 he stood on the shores of Jordan and called to the crowd to enter the [email protected] river and renew their lives. Like every child who breaks the water of Yuri Kondratyuk, Facilities x110 her mother’s womb to enter the world of air and light, John called St. Joseph School the people of Israel to new birth, called them to sink and rise amid (206) 329-3260 the ripples and eddies. He called them to drown their sinfulness in Main Office x210 preparation for the Messiah; to wash—like Namaan the leper—in the Patrick Fennessy, Principal x218 waters of the Jordan, so that they too might be cleansed. John knew Mary Helen Bever, Middle School Dir x215 that it was water, the water of a river that was “cut by the world’s Lillian Zadra, Primary School Dir x219 great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time,” which alone could symbolize the danger and the promise of his message. Water, which renews us and cleanses us, and which unites us to all things and to all people. Survey Says St. Joseph Parish has been selected to participate in a na- In its great cycle, the water that flows by us today or falls tional pilot study by Catholic Leadership Institute. By par- upon us as rain has flowed since the dawn of time. In the ticipating in this survey, we have an opportunity to identify drops that touch our heads could be water that, a few how we are growing spiritually as individuals as well as the weeks ago, flowed across the beaches of Hawaii, or a few ways in which our parish community supports that growth. millennia ago, rolled as ice sheets across the North Ameri- can plain. In touching any water, in drinking it, in immers- Through participating in this pilot we hope to: ing ourselves beneath it, we unite ourselves to all who have • Allow parishioners to reflect in their spiritual growth touched these waters before us, and to all who will come and discipleship after us and feel their touch. We are a community born of • Identify the ways in which the parish effectively sup- water, not just symbolically, but truly—united across space ports that growth and time by waters that flow through us and over us all. “All • Look at opportunities to support that growth more in things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” the future • Create goals and action plans to achieve that growth The revelation of Jesus—the beginning of his public minis- try—comes in the flowing waters of the Jordan—something The survey will be available from the week of January 18 the Church celebrates this week in the Feast of the Baptism through Ash Wednesday, February 10, and there are three of the Lord. And while the baptism of Jesus tells us many ways you can participate in this survey: things, it proclaims especially this: that the Son, beloved of God, the servant whom God upholds, has chosen not to 1. Survey sent directly to your email address – if we cross over the waters of our lives, but to immerse himself have your email address you will receive the survey di- within them. This Christ who is anointed by the Spirit, does rectly from [email protected] not seek bridge or boat, but enters fully the ebb and flow of 2. Survey accessed by a generic link – this will our humanity—diving into our waters, sinking among our be available on our website starting January 18th waves. And in those waters, which flow from the world’s 3. Survey completed on paper – copies will be available in great flood, all of us are present: each person who has ever the Parish Center. lived, each person who lives today, each woman or man Our goal is a 100% response rate to ensure that we hear who will ever draw breath on the earth. For the waters that all parishioner voices. The data collection, analysis, and poured over Christ in the Jordan circle the globe today: reporting will be handled by an independent third party, some of that water may be in the font we touched as we Measuring Success, a firm that has worked in the non-profit entered the church, or in the canteen of a soldier serving in world for 10 years to develop tools to assist non-profits to Afghanistan; some may be in the tear of a mother, mourn- measure effectiveness. Measuring Success will conduct the ing her child killed by gun violence in Chicago, or filling survey itself and handle all of your survey responses confi- the lungs of a refugee, drowning off the coast of Europe. dentially. We will receive an aggregate report of the results The waters that baptized Christ might, today, be in the crys- and will not have access to individual survey responses tal goblets of a presidential candidate, or in the sweat of a (unless you choose to self-identify). migrant, crossing the border in hopes of a better life. Thank you in advance for your participation in this impor- As Christians, this is what we believe: that each drop of our tant project. Please keep an eye on our parish website, lives—every drop of every life since the beginning of time— bulletin and your email during the week of January 18th flows through Christ, touching him and being touched by for the invitation to the survey.

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