Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Sunday

This past Sunday was a great day! I had the opportunity to do something really cool. We had a baptismal service and I baptized 7 of our teens from our church. Now that in itself is way cool but even cooler than that was two of those teens were my kids. Jessica and Wesley were both baptized this weekend. Before we began that part of our service I was able to "chat" about what it meant. So often in ministry we don't see milestones reached. We pour into the lives of students and adults and don't always see the immediate benefits of it. Back in the old days of cleaning carpet or painting houses it was easy to see what work you had done, what work was left to do and at some point when your work was finished. Your job came to an end. In ministry that doesn't happen this side of heaven. There are some things you can see such as when a person comes to know Jesus and living a life reflecting Him. One of those mile markers is being baptized. It was really cool to see those teens make that step. Baptism is a great gift, what a blessing. As church folks say...a measure of grace given by our Lord.

Okay, at our church we have a giant bathtub baptismal up front under the cross. And as luck would have it that giant baptismal's heater didn't work. So I filled it up on Thursday hoping that the water might soak up some room temperature heat...as it turns out I think the room sucked the warmth from the water. The water was very, very cold. As in the Wesleyan tradition we ask each baptism candidate a series of questions before they are dunked. We did that on the platform before we waded into the frigid water. Once we were all ready I headed into the water. I thought of the "Northwestern" crab boat on the tv show The Deadliest Catch. They talk about the frigid temperature of the Bering Sea. They make thousands of dollars playing in that water. Not I. So I toughed it out and got in. Each teen that came into the water had the same expression and made that same, 'Boy this is really cold water' sound. It was GREAT.

I did really good keeping my emotions in check. This is a great event for youth pastors. But when my son got in the water, I'll admit I got a little choked up. It was a special moment, then my baby girl got in. I baptized her. It was a great day for the Holland family. Sometimes I have the best job in the world.

2 comments:

Bekah said...

You had me all teary eyed by the end of it! I was very proud of all of them...and I am VERY sorry the water was so cold. Isn't it kind of a standing rule for the heater to be broken on the most important days?

Kind of like it's a rule that an entire work week can be sunny and then it rains all weekend?

Bette said...

As a pastor who has always baptized folks in the LAKE (In MAINE), it's ALWAYS COLD - however, this past Palm Sunday (in my new church) I had the opportunity and privilege to baptize six folks (5 teens and one adult) in the baptismal in the church - it was WARM!! It was like a jacuzzi!! We call it the Jesus Jacuzzi !! :) I miss the lake though -