Today, liturgical Christians celebrated the baptism of Our Lord. At my church, we had two children-- brothers -- receive the sacrament of Holy Baptism this morning.
In her homily, our priest reminded us that baptism, the official entrance into the Christian faith community, prepares us for a life-long way of intentionally " living wet". By this , I think that we are to live our lives fully aware that we are "marked as Christ's own forever". God loves us, and will always love us as we are: we are the recipients of God's grace.
As my priest said, Baptism gets we Christians ready to learn, grown in faith, and to heal the world.
As a Christian with Jewish ethnicity-- I take God's Commandment to heal the world very seriously.
Wow. Apparently, " living wet" is not for the weak-of-heart
To me, " living wet" means that I seek out opportunities to do justice work.
Tomorrow, January 13, 2020 I will travel to the state capital with 50 other educators, former educators, and concerned citizens to rally at the State Capitol to make our elected officials aware of the need for more state funding for public schools. Honestly, I am not looking at our rally as the only solution to the problem of underfunded public schools, it is my hope that the elected officials listen to the pleas of teachers, former teachers and school personnel, parents, and concerned taxpayers who have a real need for more funding, smaller class sizes, and a list of other items.
We want to peacefully assemble on the Capitol grounds in hope that we attract the attention of state-level policy-makers. There is power in large numbers of people-- and citizens of Florida's 67 counties are concerned about public education.
In recent months, I've learned the difference between justice and mercy. I see my participation in the Tallahassee trip tomorrow as part of my justice work. I , along with every other person on this trip-- hope to influence our state lawmakers to allocate more money for public schools. Fifty people from one Florida county cannot influence those with power . However, fifty people from every county in the state can at least make enough noise that the powers-that-be in the Capitol cannot ignore.
We are called to BE THE CHURCH. Sometimes, being Church in the world means working with others to change unfair and/or unjust policies that affect people's lives.
Tomorrow, I will wear red and walk with God as I stand with others who share my passion for public education.
Peace and Light,
Sarah
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