My First Baptism

Yesterday's sermon will be coming shortly but first and more importantly I have to tell you about my first baptism.

Yesterday I had the honor and privileged to baptism Kailey Alexis in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Kailey is the daughter of two of our distant members, her dad, John, is currently a Med Tech in the Marines and is stationed in California and her mom, Sharon, is a stay at home mom and full time student out there as well. They were married at Bethlehem almost 5 years ago and Kailey's grandma, aunts and uncle are active members of the congregation and her great-grandma was an active member of the community before moving a few years ago. Therefore Kailey is the third generation to be baptized at Bethlehem. She also wore a baptismal gown that was worn by her her dad, her aunts and uncle, and her dad's cousins. It has been used for every family baptism since the early 80's. And each person's name is embroidered into the skirt along with the year they were baptized.

I met with John, Sharon and Kailey earlier in the week and we went through the baptismal service and discussed the importance of bringing up your child in faith both in the church and at home. I was a lovely conversation and really makes me sad that they live so far from Bethlehem, but I won't guilt trip them since I know they get enough of that from their families.

Anyway to the baptism. After the hymn of the day, Kailey, John, Sharon, Jeremy and Kristin (Kailey's Godparents), Mark (the assistant minister) and myself gathered around the font. It was a good attendance Sunday, even for Columbus Day weekend, mainly cause I think everyone Kailey is related to was at church. I was fairly nervous about accidentally calling Kailey the wrong name that I ended up calling Sharon "Shannon" which I felt horrible about. The entire congregation was invited to gather around the font at starting during the Thanksgiving at the Font.

And of course with baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmations or anything else of the like, something has to go slightly off, or someone misses a cue or something else happens that is amusing. The funny thing here was that during the Thanksgiving at the Font while I'm saying a prayer and Mark is pouring water into the font, Kristin starts holding Kailey head over the font like she was expecting the water to be poured on top of her head. Just jumping the gun a little.

But after the thanksgiving when I did baptize Kailey it was a wonderful feeling. I really don't know how to describe it. It was almost as if I was aware that I was talking and that everyone was gathered around but I was only focused on the water and Kailey and felt like I could see the Spirit wash over her in that water. It wasn't magical, it was Grace-Filled! I am so lucky to have been apart of it and it is one of those moments that pastor's live for.

And if that wasn't special enough, it was also my own baptismal anniversary.