Skip to main content

My Daughter's Baptism

This past Sunday I had the great joy of baptizing my daughter into the Church. 

As a priest, one of my favorite things to do is baptize people.  It is wonderful no matter what -- whether they are sweet babies wearing their long gowns, or nervous children who aren't entirely comfortable in front of the crowd, or adults who are really stepping out on a limb and making a life change.  I love the hopeful parents and the support of their friends and family.  I love the prayers we say just for that person, thinking about their future with God.  I love hearing the water splashing during the prayers over the water.  The reminder of all the ways water has played an important role in our history as people of God, from creation to the escape from Egypt to Jesus' baptism and now to this baptism right here and now.  But my very favorite part is the line that goes with the anointing with oil - "You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ's own forever." 

And this past Sunday, my daughter Maya was at the center of all that, wearing her beautiful long gown that her Poppop and Grammy found for her.  My husband and I were the hopeful parents, surrounded by our supportive family and friends.  It was Maya's future with God that we were praying for.  It was her soft little forehead that got splashed with water.  And it was her forehead smeared with a cross of oil.  I got to say those words that I love so much, participating in marking my beloved third child as Christ's own forever.  It doesn't get any better than this!

Comments

  1. John MaassApril 21, 2011 at 7:01 AM

    Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. nickmiddleton010January 17, 2020 at 1:12 AM

    Certain news blogs additionally empower perusers to have their own dialogs. The space empowers you to produce a gander at the results of various events and separate current issues. You have your own stand-out feelings showed on an identical stage as that of perusers from around the world. mediosindependientes

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gospel as Stand-Up Comedy

April 8, 2018 Easter 2 John 20:19-31 Today in the church world is often called Low Sunday because of the generally low attendance.  After all, everyone came last week and heard the biggest story of all! So church can be crossed off the to-do list for a while. Have you heard the joke about the man who came out of church on Easter and the minister pulled him aside and said, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord."  The minister questioned, “Then how come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" The man whispered back, "I'm in the secret service."   I recently heard a name for today that I much prefer to Low Sunday - Holy Humor Sunday.  Apparently, the early church had a tradition of observing the week following Easter Sunday as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.  And so there is a (small but grow
1 comment
Read more

Shining Like the Sun

Last Epiphany Exodus 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36 My youngest daughter, Maya, will turn 9 years old on Tuesday.  Which makes me feel a bit nostalgic. Just yesterday she was my baby, happily toddling after her older brother and sister.  A naturally joyful person, she was just as excited about a trip to the grocery store as a trip to the zoo, so she transformed our boring chores into adventures just by her presence.  And now she is this big kid -- a total extrovert who loves making slime and turning cartwheels. Sometimes Maya’s birthday is just a regular day.  Every once in a while it falls on Ash Wednesday (which makes celebrating a little hard).  This year, it’s on Shrove Tuesday, which is perfect for her! Because Maya is our pancake fairy. In our house, whenever we find ourselves with a free Saturday morning, Maya and I make pancakes.  We work side by side, laughing and sniffing and tasting -- and sometimes pretending we are competing on a Chopped championship.  Often there is
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Jesus passing through our midst? (4 Epiphany Sermon)

Luke 4:21-30 “But passing through the midst of them he went away.” At first glance, this last line from this morning’s Gospel seemed like a perfect metaphor for this season of Epiphany. Jesus passes through the midst of the crowd. Which is, in a way, what Epiphany is all about – God making God’s self known in our midst, our learning to recognize God all around us. The problem of course, which is so often the problem with pieces of scripture that at first seem very promising, is that that isn’t all. The context isn’t the greatest – the crowd that Jesus is passing through the midst of just happens to be an angry, unruly, blood-thirsty mob. And there’s the small problem of the few words tacked on to the end of the hopeful part about passing through their midst – after passing through, “he went away.” I’d much prefer Jesus to have passed through their midst and then have them realize their error; or maybe Jesus could pass through their midst and they finally understand exactly who it w
Post a Comment
Read more