The Celebrant addresses the congregation, saying

Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support Sonny in his life in Christ?

People

We will.

These words are part of the liturgy of Baptism in the Book of Common Prayer.  And I have begun this week’s reflection with these words because this coming Sunday, Sonny Russel Howe, the beautiful son of Maggie DeSmet and Nick Howe, will be baptized at St. John in the Wilderness Church.

Most of us are familiar with the story of Jesus coming to John in a wilderness area to be baptized.  By being baptized, Jesus was: claiming the great truth that he was loved and accepted as part of God’s family, connecting himself to all of God’s people and God’s creation, and committing himself to a particular kind of life dedicated to extending God’s dream to the four corners of the earth.  Claiming, Connecting, Committing…  What was true for Jesus remains true for all of us as well.  

Claiming

We claim that we are God’s children, loved and accepted just as we are.  We are bold in our proclamation that despite the fact that we regularly fall short of God’s dream for our lives, God continues to love us.  There is not a place we can go where God will not seek us out.  There is not a thing that we can do that extinguishes God’s inclusion of us.  We are God’s children, forever, period. Paul Tillich, a great 20th century American theologian, described faith simply as “accepting the fact that you are accepted.”  In baptism we claim our identity.

Connecting

As God’s children, we recognize that it is not just us who are claimed, but God has claimed all human beings. All are God’s children, and as such, all are our brothers and sisters. Baptism is this recognition that we are connected to each other and to all of creation.  We are family.  We are responsible to and responsible for each other.  As such, the Church is simply a community of folks who have come to understand that we are intimately and eternally connected to God and to each other.  In baptism we publicly live into our connection with God and each other.

Committing

And finally, as God’s children intimately and eternally connected to one another, we commit our lives to extending God’s kingdom into the world so that anybody who does not know or who has forgotten about God’s great love, may experience it. Baptism is an opportunity for us to commit or to recommit to God’s plan for love in the world.

Claiming, Connecting, Committing… That’s what Jesus did at his baptism.  That’s what all of us who are baptized did at our baptisms. That’s what the parents and godparents of Sonny will be doing at Sonny’s baptism this Sunday.  And when asked whether we’ll support Sonny in this bold and grace-filled new life of claiming, connecting and committing, may we all respond with ardent and robust voices…  

We will! 

~Father Art