Taking our Sacraments out of the Box

In the United Methodist Church we have two sacraments: baptism and holy communion. One of my favorite parts of our baptism ritual is the part after the baptism when the church is asked to take some time to remember their baptism. During this time the pastor gets to do something fun! That’s right we actially have a ritual with an element of fun in our worship service. Imagine that! And I, as your pastor, gets to do it! I get to take water and sprinkle all of you with water! Crazy, right!

This week in Vacation Bible School I was reminded of two ways we could take this blessing out of the church and into the world. On the last day of VBS we did something so cool. We had been collecting backpacks for children in our nighborhood who couldn’t afford them. And on this last day each of us took a backpack in our arms, imagined what it would feel like not to have a backpack on the first day of school, then imagined what it would feel like to receive this backpack. I asked the children how they would feel. One shouted “super excited”, Another yelled, “relieved”. And then one little girl in the back of our bunch said, “I’d feel so thankful!” Suddenly the whole room went strangely quiet as we all held our backpacks tightly and blessed not only the backpack but also the child receiving it.

In so many ways this was an actof baptism without water. In this act we were remembering how many times God had blessed us, and how thankful we are for those blessings. But we were also remembering the second part of our baptism: the fact that we are blessed by God so that we can bless others. In baptism God transforms that blessing into a calling. And I can assure you every child and adult in that room felt it. So cool!

After our blessing we all headed outside for what has become a Bear Creek UMC traditon. Because the children went over on their goal of collecting 50 backpacks (we collected 56), the were given permission to “dunk” their pastor and teo other counselors ( thanks Devon and Rick) in our Bear Creek dunk tank and douse us with water balloons! Oh the joy! Oh the lafter! Oh the water! In the end almost all of us were soaked! Soaked in the water! Soaked in the spirit! Soaked in laughter! And soaked as a community infused with God’s love.

Something happens to the church when we take out baptism out of the box of the church building and live it in the world: we become alive, a new spirit is infused in us, and we become unleashed for God’s kindom!

And all the while, th god-spirit in our midst is joyfully singing: “Amen! Amen! Amen!”

Your pastor and friend, literally drenched in God’s love

, Brook