Baptism

Our Church, With Blue Skies Overhead

Maureen holds Sam

Today was Sam's baptism. It was a wonderful day and he seemed to love every minute of it. He's just such a fun baby it's hard to describe. I know that he won't always be like this, and I won't always have so much time to spend with him, but I am just continuously delighted.

Rho, a Deacon, grabs him next

He woke up smiling and played and then napped on the (now nearly 90 minute) commute to church. He was picked up almost immediately by Maureen, a member who I knew before we began going here, and who would serve as the elder later in the service.


Sam gets passed around a lot, and really thrives on the attention. I think I was more circumspect as a child, but he seems to love being the baby of the church. He was fine throughout the service. Our worship has a mix of music, liturgy, and arts, so he is usally very content. Today he had one brief fuss, but otherwise seemed to enjoy being part of worship.



For the service itself, Pastor Karen asked the questions and performed the baptism, but Alex (a recent seminary grad who works there) preached the Sermon. It was (appropriately) the Pauline text. Sam was engaged throughout the baptism--very focused on what was happening. He didn't seem to mind the water at all.

This is a member of our church and one of the nurses from the hospital, Tekla. We heard she would be there if there was c-section, but she also happened to be working the weekend we were there. She saw him as a newborn and holds him on the day of his baptism

He was carried through the pews and his hand was held by many people. I know that in my Reformed Worship class we discussed the appropriateness of this, but I actually think it's a beautiful reminder for the church. And for adults, our congregation tends to either have many people laying on hands or an invitation to the congregation to come and hug the new member. In many ways, it was just the standard service, and yet it meant and will mean a lot to us, and I hope also to Samuel. We went to part of the session meeting after church and then went out with Samuel.

Sam smiles at Grandma

I think we have felt that this church called us in a unique way. I'm sad we're so far away now, but very glad that we're able to stay involved. And we're very happy Sam could be baptized at the church that loves him so much.