At the appointed time, 9am, three grand-parents, two parents, three boys aged 8, 11, and 13 met a preacher behind the cove clubhouse. Everyone made the trek, down the rock steps to the beach.
The preacher gathered the group together and opened with prayer. "Lord, we thank you for the gift of this day. We thank you for your presence with us. Honor the commitment of these young men this day, in Jesus name, Amen."
The preacher reminded everyone that he had visited with the boys in the coffee bar about baptism a few weeks ago, and that the parents had talked with the boys as well about this decision.
"Do you today confess your faith in Jesus Christ?"
"yes" "yes" and "yes."
"Do you wish to be baptized into the Christian faith?"
"yes" "yes" and "yes."
The preacher continued, "Boys you will remember this day, because the water is cold. But I want you to remember this day for another reason. As you follow Jesus in baptism, you are receiving the sign of God's promise of grace to you. Where ever you go in your life, whatever you do, no matter what the ups and downs, God's promise of love is always with you. Remember that. I also want you to remember that the three of you did this together. You are brothers. God has given you to each other. For the rest of your lives you must take care of one another and stand with one another. Remember, this is a decision that you made today together."
"Now we are going to go down into the water, I will take each of you under one at a time, and then we will return to the beach for a towel and prayer."
The air temperature is about 64 I would guess. The water temperature is less than that. This is one of those moments in which you tolerate discomfort for the common good. Out we wade into the lake. The deeper it gets, the colder it gets. Ah, that is far enough. We turn to face the shore.
As each boy goes under the water, they rise out with an exclamation, "ahahahahhhhhh." It might have been the temperature, and it might have been the joy of the Holy Spirit in the moment of baptism.
We returned to the beach for towels and prayer.
"Lord, now set your Holy Spirit upon these boys. As they have followed you in baptism, so let your grace descend on their lives in a greater way. Guide them, keep them safe, let their lives be surrounded by your love. In Jesus name, Amen."
An extra towel is always on hand for the seat of the car. I drive home. I cannot help but think that these boys will certainly remember today. I will. It is a great gift that we have to lead our young people in the paths of Jesus Christ.
Now I have to finish the sermon. Tomorrow is a work day for me.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
1 comment:
Wow, that was an awesome story. The image that you conveyed with your words made me feel like I was actually there and a part of such a great moment in the lives of those boys and their family. I'm sure it didn't seem quite so biblical with the beach towels and all, but I kind of eliminated them from my image. : )
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