Baptism

Today in a service after the main church service I welcomed over 100 people to my first baptism. They obviously didn’t know that, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell them that, but what an amazing privilege it was. In my preparation I had focussed on the service, getting the name right and not dropping the baby (an important one I got around by letting the mother hold the child over the font – I call it ‘collaborative working’) and of course making sure there was water in the font! What I had not anticipated was the number of guests! They just kept coming in…it began to dawn on me that this was a bigger affair than I first anticipated. Not only did I have to deal the significant theology of the questions asked and vows being made but the fact it was me on my own and ALL THESE PEOPLE! I was a little scared…but God created adrenaline and it kicked in and I got through it! It was great fun!

Doing a baptism for a family in England who don’t usually come to church is a tricky one for me. I was more than delighted to baptise the child and I took the opportunity to spell out the commitment of what was being professed, but when you are immediately sidelined after the service for photos and the party afterwards, all there is left is a church to tidy and lock up…well, actually, that is not true as what was evident to me today was the incredible sense of the God’s love an grace that filled the building. The baby slept during the baptism but there was a security and a peace about her that was profound and I would argue spiritual.

In one sense the service were words on a page to some, but for me it showed just great the Church’s responsibility is in making sure they keep their end of the bargain – we welcome you in the family of faith has such wide reaching consequences and today I think I was made fully aware of just big and scary the commitment of baptism really is…

*image by Jonny Baker