{"id":315,"date":"2026-01-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/?p=315"},"modified":"2025-12-23T17:59:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T17:59:33","slug":"baptized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/baptized\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptized"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px-560x747.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2025\/12\/26-01-12-PICT6992-ByCherylBC-1200px.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cAnd when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God\u2019s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, \u2018This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.\u2019\u201d <\/em><br>&#8211; Matthew 3:16-17 (NRSVue)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><br>Activity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">In Matthew\u2019s story of the baptism of Jesus, several symbols and meanings of baptism meet and enhance each other. In Jesus\u2019 ritual immersion in water, spiritual cleansing met divine blessing, a commitment to his faith led to the revelation of his true identity. The dove adds a symbol also meaning peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">If you have experienced baptism, what does it mean to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">If you have not been baptized, what in your life has been an equivalent experience?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAnd when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God\u2019s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, \u2018This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.\u2019\u201d &#8211; Matthew<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tiny-retreat"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/pause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}