The Spirit we are told descend ?like a dove? ? not necessarily looking like a dove, though that is a much-loved symbol, but swooping down from a great height, from heaven itself, to alight gently on Jesus.  So Jesus, the carpenter from an insignificant town in Galilee in the far north of Palestine, is the focus for God the Father reaching down from heaven to identify his Son and the Spirit blessing and strengthening him for his coming ministry.  The crowds are witnesses.   Prophecies are fulfilled, not only the ancient ones, but John the Baptist?s, who said that ?one more powerful than I? will come and ?I baptise with water but he will baptise with the Holy Spirit.?

Mark is not interested in the 30 years before Jesus? baptism, but only in his ministry.  Because that is the time when Jesus was being the Messiah.  Many people think Jesus became the Messiah at his baptism, certainly this is when everything starts to happen.  This is when Jesus is approved, consecrated and strengthened for his ministry.

But before he can start he is sent into the desert and tested.  We know more from Matthew and Luke: Jesus rejects easy, short-cut methods and faces the full truth of what he will have to do and how he will be the Messiah.  Then, and only then, when he has been commissioned and tested does Jesus proclaim:  ?The time has come.  The Kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the Good News!?  There?s an exclamation mark at the end of that statement.   It?s the kernel of the gospel message ? the essential part. Jesus? coming has ushered in a new age, when heaven is breaking through into earth, when people who believe, that is us, will be able to live a new life, a kingdom life.  But first we must repent, a complex word that means rethink, change direction and start afresh.   It includes being sorry for things we?ve done wrong, but it also involves carefully examining: our identity, our thoughts and actions and the whole direction of our lives:

What do we stand for? 

What matters most to us? 

What does God want us to be? 

What does God want us to do? 

This is so important that we set aside 40 days each year to do it, and it does need doing again and again.  This is the period we call Lent, our time in the desert for preparation and testing. 

Our baptism signifies our new birth in Christ through the Spirit.   It marks us out as children of God, for whom forgiveness and eternal life are offered.  It is also our commissioning for ministry.  For every Christian has a ministry, we are all called to take part in the ministry of Jesus on earth, here and now.  As St Theresa wrote ? ?Christ has no body now on earth but yours? ? the church, his people, we are his body now.  We are his eyes, his feet, his hands and his voice in today?s world. 

How often when people see terrible suffering - maybe a starving child, shivering in the cold or cruelly treated ?do they say ? Why doesn?t God do something??   But God has done something.  He has made us.  

God?s people are all individually gifted.  We all have something to do, in other words we all have a ministry.   Our ministry is part of Jesus? continuing ministry.   We must get away from the old-fashioned idea that ?ministry? is something only ordained people do, or even that a small group in our congregation can do it all.  The need is too great for that.  Every Christian must be mobilised!   

Those who were baptised as babies ? have we grown to acknowledge that baptism?  Are we now truly children of God? 

Let?s think again about the three parts of our reading:  being, testing and doing.

Jesus, destined to be the Messiah, was commissioned for his ministry when he was baptised by water and by the Spirit, and God confirmed his identity as Son of God.  We are commissioned for our ministry, having been baptised by water and by the Spirit and having had our identity as children of God affirmed

Jesus had to endure testing in the desert to discern just how he would be the Messiah.  Life will have already tested us, but in the coming weeks of Lent we are given another chance to think things through, to re-align ourselves. 

Then, after his testing, Jesus emerged from his obscurity to proclaim the Gospel and for a brief three years to minister to his people, before his final sacrifice.  Are we ready to use our gifts? 

I notice in our Network Sheet David has asked if anyone could visit people, you just have to be yourself, nothing complicated, your visit may be the only time that person sees a friendly face, apart perhaps from carers who may not have the time to listen.  Our time is often our greatest gift in this world of busy-ness and rushing.

Wouldn?t it be wonderful if, in our parish, no lonely person was left alone and no one needing a little help to cope with life was left to struggle alone.  Whatever our gifts we can offer them to Jesus, to continue his ministry of love and care, and to spread knowledge of the hope he brings us.

So let us all use this season of Lent to re-examine ourselves, to prepare ourselves for our part in God?s plan, to explore how we can play our part in Jesus? continuing ministry.

I will end with the prayer our choir says before each service ? if they will join with me:

Take our minds and think through them

Take our lips and speak and sing through them

Take our hearts and set them on fire with the love of your holy name.  

Amen