Sunday, October 12, 2008

Adventures in Baptism

Wow, what a wonderful Sunday. The (immersion!) Baptism went off without a hitch. The parents were very pleased with everything and little Matthew seemed to enjoy himself.

I arrived extra early to prepare the tank. First I wiped out the inside to get the dust and bits of plants that were still sticking to the inside. Then I filled it with warmish-hot water with a garden hose hooked up to the facet in our broom closet. I thought we might have to use a water-heater gizmo to keep it at temperature, but actually the water stayed warm for several hours just fine. A good learning about the properties of that kind of volume (more than 100 gallons).

Rolling it into position near the chancel was a bit tricky. I had calculated the weight on each wheel but didn't believe it before I filled the tank (~250 lbs?). So I think I'll add another pair of casters to the base to make it easier to roll around. I put some muscle into and got her done.

Kerrie, our Director of Children's and Youth Ministry, arrived early with supplies to dress the font with fabric. She used double-sided tape, though we may switch to Velcro. The result looked pretty good, and I'll post a photo once I have one.

I put the pascal candle next to the font and a small table for odds and ends (oil of chrism, baptismal candle, etc.).

The service started out strong. I was thankful that the collect, prayer over the gifts, and prayer after communion all mentioned baptism--that was pure coincidence. I do believe in saving baptisms for special occasions, but in this case I made an exception so little Matthew's grandmother could attend. As the time came for he sermon I felt tremendous warmth and gentleness. The Epistle, with it's call to "Rejoice always," buoyed me to a wonderful moment of preaching that was extremely present to everyone present. It felt wonderful to be that extemporaneous zone on such a joyful day. I used words like "beautiful" and "love" a lot!

At the last minute (big) Matthew and I added an extra hymn to give me time to change into a stunt-alb. He lead the whole congregation is singing a rousing version of "Wade in the Water," while I feverishly changed.

Just before the Baptism itself the parents took the baby to the vestry where I had a changing table and extra towels standing by. They brought him back naked except for a towel thingy to stay warm. At the appropriate time I took him out of the towel. and put him gently into the water up to his arm pits. He seemed to like the water just fine. The temperature was perfect.

I got comfortable again and then cradled him in the water with my left arm. As I pronounced the baptismal formula I used my right hand to block his nose and mouth and just tipped him back for a second. He didn't really care for that, but I wonder whether it was my hand on his face, the tipping backwards, or the submersion that he didn't like. I think next time I would probably lower rather than tip the baby in--but once I had him out of the water and back into a towel he calmed down just fine. Learnings. Learnings.

Next was the anointing and then a hymn while the parents dressed him in the Vestry. When they came back he was righter than rain--spiritually bathed and clothed in Christ. In the mean time I switched back to my regular alb, as the stunt alb was predictably wet. I presented him with the candle and then the congregation greeted the newest Christian.

The rest of the service continued in the same theme of warmth and joy. Afterwards the parents and godparents told me how pleased they were with everything. The rest of the congregation was please, as well, and told me how much they liked it. As it turns out this is not the first time COTM has done immersion baptism. A member of the choir recalled it being done back in Desmond Hunt's day. Perhaps sometime I'll search for a record of that.

Someone said I was very brave to do such a service on such short notice. Yet I think it's one of the very special attributes of this church (COTM) that they are willing to "go there" whenever we try something new. They have a high tolerance for experimentation in this place that I am deeply greatly for. Man, I love these people!

-t

3 comments:

Daniel Graves said...

Glad to hear about this service and that it went well. What a blessing to experience the rite in the fullness of both its symbolic and sacramental glory. Thanks for sharing the moment with the rest of us.

DFG+

Tay Moss said...

You bet. It's interesting to hear people's reactions to the tank and the idea of such a baptism. My wife, for example, was baptized by full immersion when she was a teenager and remembers it well. The guy that sold the stock tank told Kerrie that other churches had bought such tanks for the same reason! And when our handyman saw it he told me about his immersion baptism many years ago. So a very positive experience all around.
-t

Tay Moss said...

BTW, my sister gave me useful tip from her experience at a mommy-and-me swim class: if you gently blow on an infant's face just before dunking they will reflexively close their eyes. There is a nice symbolism there, too, of the breath of the Holy Spirit...
-t