This week we hear the story of Jesus' baptism.  According to the text, some curious things happened which deserve our attention. 1 - The heavens opened up (Mark 1:10) 2 - The Spirit descended on Jesus in a form that looked like a dove (Mark 1:10) 3 - A voice from Heaven said to Jesus, "You are my Son, with you I am well pleased (Mark 1:11)" What we see in this story is the coming together of Heaven and Earth - the Spiritual and the Material fuse as one.  Classical Christianity has always, since the time of the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., stated that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human.  In Him we see this perfect fusion of Spirit and Matter.  Sometimes it may seem like that's easy for Him, since He is God incarnate, but what if that was the goal of spirituality for everyone - joining and integrating the spiritual and the material.  Or even more challenging, what if the purpose of human beings is to be like Christ in this regard, integrating the mate...

This week the Gospel passage moves to John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness.  John was sent as a messenger, as one who would prepare the people for the coming Messiah.  From a mystical point of view, I'd like to focus on this preparation happening in the wilderness, and move from there onto why the distinction between baptism with water and baptism with the Holy Spirit. But first off the wilderness: We actually have two separate descriptions in our texts, depending on where you put the punctuation.  In Isaiah 40 we read one crying out, "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord."  Whereas in Mark 1, referencing this passage it tells of one crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord ..."  In either case the result is the same, John the Baptist was out in the wilderness preaching about repentance and forgiveness of sins. The wilderness was often the place where intense revelations took place.  God revealed the Torah to the Jewis...