Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Sunday, January 10, 2010
You are baptized, what did you expect?
Luke 3:15-22, Westminster Pres, Santa Fe. Jan 10, 2010
[Much of the ideas and outline for this sermon came from Joanna Adams sermon broadcast Jan 10, 2010 on day1.org entitled "God Believes in You". This is the date of her retirement after an admirable faithful life in ministry.]
Last weekend many of you had a chance to meet my friends, Jeff and Renee, who were in town visiting from Colorado Springs with their energetic and wonderfully curious four-year old twin girls, Lela and Karis. On Saturday, we went to what is becoming one of my favorite places in town: The children's Museum. Fun with face paint, bubbles, giant Costa Rican cockroaches…. It was great. It must have been just after the cockroaches that Jeff approached me: "Hey Topple (that's what my old friends would call me), Renee and I were wondering if you would baptize our kids tomorrow?" I was a little taken aback: What an honor and a privilege! Participating in people's baptisms are some of the most sacred and treasured moments I have as a minister. But, tomorrow? Don't I need session approval for something like that? Doesn't the family need to be part of the congregation? All of these things that come to my mind as a pastor in a church when all I wanted to do is say: YES! I'd love to and what a joy to know that you want them to be baptized, to claim their inheritance as beloved children of God, and that you want me to do it! [Note: Margaret Sandoval, a beloved elderly elder, said to me after the service..."It probably would have been alright for you to baptize those girls." I love her!]
Well, we didn't have a baptism here last Sunday....perhaps the opportunity will come sometime in the future, decently and in order… I certainly suggested as much.
The way baptisms are done in many churches these days is a curious thing. Some churches baptize tiny tiny infants and make all these proclaimations.. Others have a pool in their buildings, as if that really replicates a river baptism: Submersion! I have done several baptisms since I entered the ministry; from infant to a baptism in an ocean where I almost got swept away by the tide!
In this church, with the person to be baptized, we gather around the font, and I say: "Hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'" During the sacrament, everyone present is invited to:"Remember your own baptism and be grateful." Remember our baptism…? Well, I was just 6 months old...to do this, I had to go to my mother and father to ask for some details... They remembered that Matt Moore lifted me up above his head, and I promptly spit up on his suit. Fortunately that was before the service began.
[Much of the ideas and outline for this sermon came from Joanna Adams sermon broadcast Jan 10, 2010 on day1.org entitled "God Believes in You". This is the date of her retirement after an admirable faithful life in ministry.]
Last weekend many of you had a chance to meet my friends, Jeff and Renee, who were in town visiting from Colorado Springs with their energetic and wonderfully curious four-year old twin girls, Lela and Karis. On Saturday, we went to what is becoming one of my favorite places in town: The children's Museum. Fun with face paint, bubbles, giant Costa Rican cockroaches…. It was great. It must have been just after the cockroaches that Jeff approached me: "Hey Topple (that's what my old friends would call me), Renee and I were wondering if you would baptize our kids tomorrow?" I was a little taken aback: What an honor and a privilege! Participating in people's baptisms are some of the most sacred and treasured moments I have as a minister. But, tomorrow? Don't I need session approval for something like that? Doesn't the family need to be part of the congregation? All of these things that come to my mind as a pastor in a church when all I wanted to do is say: YES! I'd love to and what a joy to know that you want them to be baptized, to claim their inheritance as beloved children of God, and that you want me to do it! [Note: Margaret Sandoval, a beloved elderly elder, said to me after the service..."It probably would have been alright for you to baptize those girls." I love her!]
Well, we didn't have a baptism here last Sunday....perhaps the opportunity will come sometime in the future, decently and in order… I certainly suggested as much.
The way baptisms are done in many churches these days is a curious thing. Some churches baptize tiny tiny infants and make all these proclaimations.. Others have a pool in their buildings, as if that really replicates a river baptism: Submersion! I have done several baptisms since I entered the ministry; from infant to a baptism in an ocean where I almost got swept away by the tide!
In this church, with the person to be baptized, we gather around the font, and I say: "Hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'" During the sacrament, everyone present is invited to:"Remember your own baptism and be grateful." Remember our baptism…? Well, I was just 6 months old...to do this, I had to go to my mother and father to ask for some details... They remembered that Matt Moore lifted me up above his head, and I promptly spit up on his suit. Fortunately that was before the service began.
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