Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

This is a great moment for Jesus, a moment when he receives affirmation from God his Father. For the rest of us it is also a momentous occasion. This is the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and a promise of great things to follow. What a shame that our own baptisms aren’t as momentous. At best we might have got a party, though of course we were far too young to share the sausage rolls and champagne. Perhaps there’s a bit of video footage somewhere in the loft, but it’s not likely that we got doves from heaven or God’s voice from the clouds. This doesn’t however make our baptism  unimportant.

Jesus’ baptism came at the start of his public ministry and marked a new beginning for us all. The story invites us to look at our own beginnings in light of  Jesus’ ministry. What have we made of our lives so far? Is there anything we can point to that we feel might have particularly pleased God? Perhaps we have done nothing to please God. Perhaps we have made rather a rocky start. Perhaps we haven’t done much to be proud of at all. It doesn’t matter; coming so close to the beginning of the year, this feast day is a perfect invitation to start again.

The second thing we learn from this gospel reading is that Jesus was not alone; he was enabled by the Holy Spirit who descended in the bodily form of a dove. The really exciting news is that according to John, we too receive the Holy Spirit in our baptism. We are not alone in our struggles. We too are enabled. That’s a genuinely powerful belief.

As we begin yet another new year, we set about    facing our challenges with a renewed courage and a renewed faith in the Holy Spirit. We begin again with an appreciation that our baptism is more than just a distant childhood memory.