August 10th, 2008 - βαπτίζω : A Sacred Double Baptism and the Creator Conversation

The Sunday service and the Creator Conversation afterwards were very special, a gift and blessing.

This was a double baptism; Lauren, "almost 3 years old" according to her (birthday in October) and her uncle Stephen. It was a joyous and wet affirmation - a tangible expression of love and obedience to God.

The Rev. Mary Peterson presided and the Spiritworks team volunteers for the service were Team Faith. They all contributed to the atmosphere of this service that held our hearts fast. Annie was the Assisting Minister. She did not wear an alb and, interestingly; together with other elements of the service; that gave the baptism a less formal look and established a feeling of a community piece to this baptism.

Lauren was incredibly energetic and curious. Her enthusiasm for all the parts of the sacrament contributed to the beauty of the baptism. At one point Pastor Mary could tell that Lauren was eager to move ahead on the baptism and Mary cut short what she was saying to move the sacrament along.

The water used to baptize Lauren and Stephen came from the river Jordan. Jane and Don, parents of Stephen, grandparents of Lauren, I’m sure were the ones who supplied that water. Physical and spiritual journeys tie together with their stories of trips to the Holy Land. I don’t know whether it was where the water came from or not but both Lauren and Stephen were particularly wet after the baptism.

Also, as Stephen was baptized, he moved his head to be eye-level with Lauren. I wish I had a picture of the joy in his face at that moment.

After the service was the Creator Conversation. A group of forty met after the service to talk about Creator’s ministry with Rev. Mary facilitating. There were two lists developed. One was a list of words about what ministry was to us. The other, a list of words associated with not ministering.

Pastor May asked what came to our minds as we read both lists. There were expected responses but Susan, our council president, came up with the something that stuck with many of us. She said both lists seemed contagious to her.

There was food for the event. I sat close to Debi and she was peeling and eating oranges. The conversation we were having fused with the fresh scent of oranges for me and I felt close to everyone in the discussion.

Leaving Creator I believe many people were feeling revitalized with a new sense of purpose.