Psalm
122:1-9
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of
the Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O
Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly
together,
4 to which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name
of the Lord.
5 There thrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house
of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who
love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your
towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be
within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
How can water do
such great things? Answer:
Clearly the water does not do it, but the Word of
God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this Word
of God in the water. For without the Word of God the water is plain water and
not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled
water of life and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul
says to Titus in chapter 3[:5–8*], “through the bath of rebirth and renewal of
the Holy Spirit, which he richly poured out over us through Jesus Christ our
Savior, so that through that very grace we may be righteous and heirs in
hope of eternal life. This is surely80
most certainly true.”
Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan
River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the holy
Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your
children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus
Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever. Amen.(L12)
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