First United Methodist Church’s In Real Life – Thursday, 23
January 2014 “Baptism, a chance to begin anew” by Reverend Greg LaDue
We have just begun the new year and as Lent approaches I am
aware that it is a time for preparing people for baptism.
When I became clergy, the sacrament
that moved me the most was communion. I felt, and still feel so
privileged to preside over and distribute communion to you all. And truly, I
was not prepared for the experience of renewing baptismal vows at the end of
the service in which we have baptized infants and occasionally adults.
Now, when I’m standing here with that
bowl of water and watching people walk up to me and their faces change as I say
the simple words, “remember your baptism and be thankful” and apply
a bit of water to their foreheads in
the sign of the cross (water being the symbol of life and the cross an emblem
of death) What a thing!
a bit of water to their foreheads in
the sign of the cross (water being the symbol of life and the cross an emblem
of death) What a thing!
The reality is, that most of us do not
remember our baptism. Most of us were infants so we don’t really
remember. But as I stand here and people come toward me I hear in my head
the hymn, “Shall we Gather at the River”.
Their faces soften as they walk up… as
though they are about to receive a drink of cool water and that refreshes so
deeply and in places never touched, young, old, middle aged… their eyes close
as I place the water on their foreheads; I watch the shoulders relax,
their faces smile ever so slightly as it softens and the relief cross each
face.
I was not prepared for how serving in
this way, would affect me. Symbolically, in that moment, we recall dying
to ourselves and joining Christ in a very intimate way. “ For as many of you as
were baptized into Christ did put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Old
things have passed away and we are new creations in Christ.
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of
baptizing two adults on the anniversary of the day they had lost a child. Life
comes from death. This is a truth we often fail to teach very well. Their
baptism signified a new beginning of life, and it began in the pain of a loss.
Every week as I sit in vespers
surrounded by beautiful music that guides me in worship I watch the light fade
and the darkness come. I watch the day “die” and then the next morning I
watch the resurrection happen in the sky. Nature reminds us every day of
the opportunity to begin anew, watched in God’s love. Light returns and
we have another opportunity to say Amen; to remember our baptism and be
thankful.
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First United Methodist Church
2111 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 297-4366
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