During the summer before my sophomore year of college, my grandma and I were sitting on their breezeway on a hot day, and she asked me a question that I could tell she had been silently mulling over in her mind before she asked. “What is the greatest gift you have been given?”

And out came the words “My baptism.”  

My answer surprised her, and honestly, it surprised me too. Now, I did know that my grandma would like that answer, and maybe that is why I answered that way, but I couldn’t figure out how it was so automatic. I could have said so many other things like the trampoline I got in fifth grade, my college education, or the drum set I had gotten for Christmas that year. I have received a lot of good gifts in my life, material and immaterial. There was an abundance from which I could choose.

My grandma was deep in her own thoughts about the question so she didn’t ask me to explain much further, but it really made me start to think more about it. Why did I say that was the greatest gift? Baptism was not really something I thought much about.

As a result, it became something I started to think about more deeply; and I continue to think about it now because the primary goal of Family Ministry is to support families in fulfilling their baptismal promises. From the cradle to graduation, we aim to show the power and promise of the baptismal life, marking special milestones in a child’s faith journey. While these Stepping Stones may stop after high school, the power and promise of baptism continues to shape us until we take our last breath. That is when we complete our baptism, when we return to the Lord.

I have wondered to myself, “What if there were no such thing as baptism? What difference would it make if one could not be baptized because it didn’t exist? How would I be thinking about life and my life in particular?”

At one point, I realized that it makes all the difference. So much so, that I went through a period of time that I needed proof to know that I was baptized and felt concerned even in the midst of reassurance that I was indeed baptized. Luckily, I eventually came across a newspaper clipping in one of our family photo boxes that was actual coverage of my baptism at St. John’s in Salisbury! The paper was authentically from the 1980s so it was very credible. Once I saw that, I was able to lay the question to rest.  

I feel confident in the rich comfort and purpose that the baptismal life offers. Without it, I would feel lost and undefined, but in the water with God’s promise, I remember that I was claimed. So were you. The new life we are given is a life wrapped in forgiveness, hope, and calling. And on a funny note, if someone tells you to get a life, you can say, “I got one—at the baptismal font!” And it’s a better life than anyone else could offer.

But really, baptism is something incredibly special and so unique. In all of the meaninglessness we may find in other areas of existence and in all of the loose associations of belonging in which we find ourselves, baptism is life-defining, cosmically and existentially. On the cosmic level, we are claimed by the Most High God. We become God’s children, brought in from the cold, dark world into the light of this Highest God’s Son Christ. Existentially, we are brought into the Church, the Body of Christ, and given a five-fold purpose to live out until that day when after our last breath, we are fully welcomed into the presence of God. However, before we get to those heavenly gates, we are called to undergo deep transformation in the goal and gift of becoming more like Christ.

It may seem curious that I am talking so much about baptism during the Season of Advent, but Holy Baptism is often called the sacrament of new birth, and new birth is what we are waiting for in this Season of Preparation. We are waiting and preparing for the arrival of the Savior, in the manger, in our hearts, and when he comes again. As we begin the story of Jesus’ birth anew, baptism marks the beginning of our story with Jesus—a story of grace, redemption, and renewal.

In this Season of new beginnings and new birth, remind yourself of your baptism daily. Legend has it that Martin Luther had a large plaque in his room that read: “When you wash your face, remember your baptism.” So, even in getting ready each day, take some water, remind yourself that no matter what, because of the great gift of your baptism, God is always with you.

Peace,

Pastor Adrienne