Friends,

This coming Sunday, we will have the opportunity to welcome two new members to our congregation, to celebrate the ways in which God calls and claims them, and then we will baptize their infant child. This is a momentous occasion for our congregation. It has been more than a decade since we celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism for an infant during worship. We baptized an adult a few years ago, but it was during the Pandemic Shut-down and only a few people could be in the sanctuary. But now, the shut-down is over, and we can all be there to surround Chris and Caitlin and their son, Theo, with our prayers and blessings. My colleague, Rev. Jenny Warner, reminds her congregation during a baptism, “This is an invitation for us to remember that our faith is not for us alone; it invites us into community – to love and care for each other, particularly the children that are a part of us.” I will borrow her words and ask all of us, as the community of God’s Beloved Children, to make promises to love and care for this new family, especially this child.

As we speak these promises, we remember that God calls us to love and care for all those who are part of our community, whether or not they met with the Session to become members. And we are called to love and care for the children that are part of us, whether we were present at their baptism, or we came into their lives at some later moment. All of God’s Beloved Children deserve our love and care!

Peace,

Pastor Jack