Baptism

Yesterday I preached in Paulding Ohio at First Christian Church.  I was supposed to preach this coming Sunday as the regional elder for the district.  They do not have a minister and are filling the pulpit every week as they can.  Paulding is a 3 hour drive for me and so I will go once - but not more than that.

Allen Harris, our regional minister, was supposed to preach yesterday and do 5 baptisms and he has covid.  So at the last minute came to the rescue.  It was a real blessing to me.

It has been a long time since I have done a baptism.  As Disciples of Christ, we baptize by immersion which has its own challenges and blessings. The challenge is in the details.  When I got there, they assured me that they had waders.  I have never used waders and I did not yesterday - instead I wear a bathing suit under my robe and walk in the water in bare feet.  Hoping it will not be too cold.  Yesterday the water was chilly but manageable.  

Usually, when I was the pastor of the church, I had taught the kids in pastor's class over six to eight weeks and really gotten to know them.  We would meet weekly and often have an overnight.  I still remember having two girls spend the night at my home as part of pastor's class.  We really get to know each other.

This time I was walking in cold and did not know the kids.  So, I learned their names and had a little bit of a conversation with them before the service.  What I wanted was for them to feel confident in the process and not afraid of anything.  They walk down the steps gingerly - sometimes holding the railing.  I am in the water with my hand outstretched and a welcoming smile on my face.  I whisper to them to bend their knees and cross their arms and some of them hold their noses.  I say the words - "I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit for the gift of the holy spirit and remission of sins"  or something like that.  I put them under and when they come up, I hug them and tell them that Jesus loves them or something like that.  It is all very fast and at the same time very intimate. The challenges are - my forgetting what I am saying, me falling, them falling, me not being able to get them under.  Just things like that.

The blessings are to be in that moment with them.  Not knowing what it is like for them, but trusting that this may be an experience they remember for the rest of their lives.  I sit here and am grateful for all the people I have been with in a baptistry - those I have hugged and told them how precious they are to God.  (and to me and to the church).  The hope is that these words may remain within them somehow so that when they go through times of self doubt and even self loathing, they may remember.  

Believer's baptism is a commitment made by the person to follow Jesus and contains within it the promise that Jesus loves them, forgives them, and gives them God's spirit.  I think it is a sacrament - meaning that God is in it in ways we cannot see or control but trust.  Besides everything else - it symbolizes the NEW LIFE that God offers us as we - again - die to ourselves - and open ourselves to the Holy one. 

I like this quote from Pope Francis: We are called to live our baptism every day, as new creatures, 

clothed in Christ."

May the God of NEWNESS be with you,

freshening you with renewed energy and awakening you with new perspectives on old vision.

May you be free enough to let go of what is stale and used up 

and to embrace what is new and full of promise.

May God's grace be with you as you wrap yourself in what is right, if unfamiliar.

May you look upon your life and your ministry with the eyes of God,

ever new and ever transforming.

May the God of NEWNESS be with you.

Amen