When John bap­tized by Jor­dan’s ri­ver,
In faith and hope the peo­ple came,
That John and Jor­dan might de­liv­er
Their trou­bled souls from sin and shame.
They came to seek a new be­gin­ning,
The hu­man spir­it’s age­less quest:
Repentance and an end of sinn­ing,
Renouncing ev­ery wrong con­fessed.

There as the Lord, bap­tized and pray­ing,
Rose from the stream the sin­less One,
A voice was heard from Hea­ven say­ing,
This is My own be­lov­èd Son.
There as the Fa­ther’s word was spok­en,
Not in the power of wind and flame,
But of His love and peace the to­ken,
Seen as a dove, the Spir­it came.

O Son of Man, our na­ture shar­ing,
In whose obe­di­ence all are blest,
Savior, our sins and sor­rows bear­ing,
Hear us and grant us this re­quest:
Daily to grow, by grace de­fend­ed,
Filled with the Spir­it from ab­ove,
In Christ bap­tized, be­loved, be­friend­ed,
Children of God in peace and love.