Wade in the Water

Not an image from this particular baptism...but look at our crazy font

Okay, so there was no wading in the water...because the font at my church is old school (like, it has a lock and a brass relief of a dove which actually looks like a raptor) but we had the first baptism since I've been there yesterday.  

Typically House does baptisms on baptismal festivals (like the Easter Vigil) but we aren't really all that strict about it and this instance was no exception...or maybe it was the world's largest exception.

About a month ago, a woman emailed House to tell us her story.  In it she recounted that she was raised an atheist and a cultural Jew, but in the midst of watching her family lose everything in Hurricane Sandy, she saw something odd.  A bunch of Lutherans and Episcopalians in New York cleaning up the damage and rebuilding.  It was something she hadn't experienced before, and wanted to learn more about these strange benevolent Lutheran people.

Through a series of circumstances she found House For All Sinners and Saints and listened to every single one of the sermons that have been preached here.  In her email she explained that she laughed with our community, cried with our community, and she felt the presence of God in her life for the first time.  Because she felt like she was part of our community, and had just discovered this God thing, she wanted to fly to Denver to be baptized into our community, knowing that it was unlikely she would be back often, or maybe ever.

After discussing the request in Housekeeping (our Church Council) one member of it pointed out that we unapologetically have an open table at House, so we had to have an open font as well.  I know that there is a lot of debate in the church about open tables, and it's likely that those same people will be in disagreement about our open font as well...(and we've worked to help our newest sister in Christ find a church home in her part of the country)...but, regardless of thoughts surrounding our practices, it was one of the most beautiful things I've witnessed thus far.  Baptisms, for me, are such a powerful and amazing reminder of my own baptism.  That, 25 years ago, I too had water poured over me and I was sealed with the Cross of Christ forever.