Friends,
This first Sunday of Advent marks the anniversary of my daughter’s baptism, so I will share this Advent reflection that I wrote on the day following in 2015.
“I think sometimes we, parents of little ones, think that baptism is simply a religious rite that we need to check off the list, so we dress them up in flowing gowns and head pieces and take them to church. As I was sitting here this morning feeling almost paralyzed by these images of violence that continue to fill my feed I am reminded of the significance of my children's baptisms, of the water that gently covered their brows, then drip-dropped down their tiny faces, tickling their noses and softly leaving their skin once again. As a mother this water helped ensure my babies' safety as they grew and developed inside of my body, and then ushered them to their next adventure when birth would bring them into the next world. This same life-giving water fills their bodies even now as they learn to talk and walk, to wonder and dream, to read and to write.This same water is life-giving to all that has been granted life among us; every creature and plant, everything that has breath.
I also understand that this water gives life equally to those who cause harm and those to whom harm has been done. The same waters that ushered my babies into this world will take life as quickly as it began. So maybe the significance has nothing to do with water itself, really, but with the way in which we decide to respond to these watered babies, those to whom the church has promised to guide and those from which the church would hide in fear. Each of us begins life inside the belly of another yet not all of us are delivered into safety from the womb, and for many among us the idea of living water ended soon after delivery.”
As we enter this season of Advent watching for the light that will soon break forth from the waters, let us offer before God all that is broken, and call into existence the baptismal promise that in Christ, all things will be made new!
May the waters of Christ’s healing presence pour over you this Advent season. Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
Reverend Jenny Shultz-Thomas