But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and don’t try to stop them! People who are like these children belong to God’s kingdom.”
— Matthew 19:14 CEV
In my final year of Seminary I completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at the University of Chicago Medical Center. As a teaching hospital and trauma center we constantly faced crises and critical situations. As chaplains, we didn’t get directly involved in medical matters, but explored and cared for the spiritual dimensions of injury, illness, surgery, therapy, death and life. I had not yet been ordained, but had been authorized to perform certain spiritual functions.
The first baptisms I ever conducted took place there at the U of Chicago Medical Center. The parents of a child in the Pediatric ICU were invited to request baptism, and if they were Protestant or non-denominational, we Protestants chaplain interns would get the call. We would go to the PICU and prepare ourselves. We would gown, scrub in, glove, mask, and be given a bottle of sterile water and some gauze. It wasn’t what any of us pictured baptism to be, but it got the job done: we were able to remind worried parents that God loved them and their children, that God was with them in this difficult time, and that they were a part of the family of God.
I was thinking about that just now as I led the baptism of Eva Evangeline Hand. Eva’s older brother is part of the Preschool, and his family are Methodists from way back. So when Eva was born into this time of Crisis, her parents wanted her to be baptized here at the church. This morning we invited Eva’s grandparents to sit in the Sanctuary while the rest of her family joined Marty and me out in the garden. I donned a freshly washed gown and mask, and some new gloves, opened a new bottle of water and poured it into a sterilized bowl. I dipped a disinfected measuring cup into the water and poured it over her head. Once again, this was not the usual baptism. And once again, it got the job done. Actually it was quite beautiful.
And you will get to see this! More importantly you will get to be a part of this. Baptism if an act of the Holy Spirit, occurring in the community of faith. The congregation, as well as the immediate family, vow to support and care for the person being baptized. We acknowledge that it takes a village to raise a child, and we commit to be a part of that village. Some Christian traditions do not baptize children, preferring to wait until the child is old enough to proclaim their faith for themselves. We do not wait for this, because we understand that God Christ died and rose for us long before we ever knew we had the need for forgiveness and regeneration. In the same way, even though Eva’s baptism has already happened, through the miracle of modern technology you will be able to be a part of and to make that vow to be a part of her family of faith. – This Sunday at 8, 9:30, and 11 AM.
Pastor George
These are extraordinary times. Like water, Grace finds a way.
God of mercy and grace, fill us anew with your Spirit. Cleanse us and renew us; claim us and send us. Help us to feel your guiding hand upon us, and help us to feel the encouragement of the distanced community of faith. Where we do not yet fully understand, help us to trust in you. In the name of your Precious Child we pray, Amen.