05.20.06

How I lost my "baptismal cynicism" 

Growing up in the church, watching people get baptized had become about as common as singing “Father Abraham” in Sunday school, an inevitability. Once more, growing up in the church with parents in ministry, yes I was a pseudo “preacher’s kid”. My Mom was the prayer minister at my church, she and Dad were given the “task” of ministering at every baptism my church had. To be fair to my beloved parents, in my 11 year old mind it was a task, to them it was quite enjoyable. Though still, baptism services had become a monthly, sometimes weekly drudgery. I dreaded the months when my pastor, “Pastor Gary” got up in front of the congregation and joyously proclaimed, “We have 80 people getting baptized this month, as opposed to the 30 we had last week!” ... “sigh”, a response I learned from my Father no less, he never complained but would simply exhale rather audibly to expose his displeasure. My reaction was the same, “sigh, 80 instead of 30!? That means my sister Sarah and I are going to have to learn more games to play under the pews!” Our favorites, ranged anywhere from Tic-Tac-Toe, to “M.A.S.H.” we would occasionally welcome another pastors kid if they were to be found. Needless to say, you can understand, though many years have passed since those days, baptisms have become completely blasé.

I found myself in a situation reminisant those days last Sunday night at the evening service. Mike (my current pastor) gets on stage and exclaims, “We have 80 souls getting baptized tonight!” Sigh, grouping for my keys and Bible, I immediately contemplate my “exit strategy”. I made up mind to wait until the baptizing had commenced to quietly slip out. The assistant Pastor, Alan, does his opening speech before the submerging of heads, so to speak, begins. I’m confident my exodus will be swift and successful, until the unexpected happens. I’m stuck. I’m actually interested in what is going on. I walk up towards the front near the baptism tank, many had already gathered there to take pictures and such. Call it Holy Spirit guidance; call it reminisant curiosity. Either way there I was standing up front in front of the 800 or so, with my car keys still in hand, preparing to be a witness to the ceremony.

Honestly I’ve never experienced anything like what happened next. I felt incredible joy, yes, me the Guru of baptismal cynicism. (Don’t worry that isn’t an actual concept, it was only created for this story.) As each person was baptized I wept with joy, and with each one the weeping grew. I’ll be honest I am of the sort that’s not afraid to cry in public, but this was almost embarrassing. This wasn’t a misty eyed adoration, this was full-on, face in hands, shoulders shaking, tears gushing, nose running, well you get the point; weeping. A joyful, but so much so that the only physical way my body knew how to express this much joy, seemed to be uncontrollable sobbing. I swear in that time, I felt the father’s heart for each and every person. “God you have been waiting for this moment”, I thought to my self, “waiting for that one, and that one, to publicly declare their renouncement of sin, and their affection for your Son.” Stunning! Unbelievable! I was hearing Psalms 45, “the King is enthralled by your beauty” over every single one of them. I felt such camaraderie, as they declared their Love to the one that I also Love. I understood, in that moment, how the Apostle Paul, was able express such love toward the churches like those in Philippi, Rome or even the compromise filled church in Corinth. I was so proud of all of them, from the young 10 to 14 years olds, the 25 to 30 year olds. Whose stories of how they came into the faith still resounded in my spirit.

My view of Baptism has been completely changed. You could say I’ve been conveyed. Now I understand the great significance, not of being dunked under water, but of making a public pledge of love, and allegiance to God. As Paul would say, shedding off the old man and walking in the new. Needless to say, no matter what I’ve learned, Sunday’s baptism was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.