This week’s gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary is John 1:29-42. In the passage, John the Baptizer (who is not the same John credited with writing the gospel) sees Jesus for the first time and remarks to his own followers that he has seen “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Two of John’s disciples then follow Jesus along the road, and one of them, Andrew, goes to tell his brother Simon Peter that ”we have found the Messiah.” A footnote in the text notes that the word “Messiah” might also be translated as ”Christ” or ”anointed one.”
There seems to be an embedded implication that these followers of John (the baptizer, not the gospel writer) are expecting this “Messiah,” this “Christ,” this ”anointed one.”
Which begs the question: what exactly were they expecting?
This week at New Wineskins we’ll continue our 2023 theme, ”Deconstructing Liturgy,” by taking a close look at exactly what it is we mean when we say we’ve either encountered or are expecting to encounter this Christ. We’ll talk about how our views of Jesus’ messiahship have been formed—and often limited—by our inherited religious structures, and how an expanded view of the Universal Christ can help us see ourselves and the world we live in as already anointed for goodness, for justice, and for liberation.
Please join us this Sunday, Jan. 15, in our Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom for a conversation about what it means to find the Messiah and more closely follow the Christ.
Click here to view this week’s discussion video featuring Fr. Richard Rohr on “The History of the Christ” (we’ll cover the first 6 minutes of the video during our gathering, but feel free to watch the whole thing!).
6:00pm EDT: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm EDT: Presentation & conversation begin
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Feature image: Traditional site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan River near Jericho (photo by Joe Webb)