8-Jan-23 (Matthew 3:13-17)

Today we'll hear the story about Jesus coming to be baptized. Do you know what it means to be baptized? [Wait for answers]
One thing baptism meant for the folks that came to John that day. It meant that they were repenting; that they were saying "No." to all the things they did that God didn't like. They were saying "No." to hurting other people. They were saying "No." to doing things that hurt themselves. They were saying "No." to things that hurt this world and everything in it. That's what baptism meant to them.
The thing is that whenever you say "No." to something, it helps if you say "Yes." to something else. When we get repent, we can also say "Yes." to God. We can say "Yes." to the Church. We can say "Yes." to trying to do good things for other people. We can say "Yes." to doing good things for our world and all that's in it.

Let's pray about that.
God, we thank you that you give us the strength we need to say "No." to the things that do harm and "Yes." to the things that do good. We thank you that Jesus showed us the way to repent and say "Yes." to you. We also thank you for all the people in our church that have showed us how to do that.
Help us not only to do what is right and good, but also to show others what we've learned about you.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.