1 Out of deep, unordered water God created land and life;
world of bird and beast, and later, twosome people, husband, wife.
There is water in the river bringing life to tree and plant.
Let creation praise its giver: there is water in the font.
Voices United 453
It occurred to me yesterday that even though the United Church and other mainline/old-line denominations state that they have two sacraments this is the official stance rather than the liturgical reality for many congregations. Most churches still celebrate communion on a regular basis, but the same can't be said for baptism. There are lots of congregations that don't baptize anyone in the course of a year. Closing churches sell off their "holy hardware" including baptismal fonts.
How things have changed. When I was ordained in 1980 I immediately began baptizing lots of infants --reluctantly. At that time a newborn was still registered by a clergyperson, harking back to the days when most babies were born in their outport homes rather than in a hospital and supposedly everyone was Christian. So, in order to receive the "baby bonus" a child had to be baptized and registered by a church. This made me a civil servant, sending in the forms and receiving fifty cents for every one submitted. I found this an appalling misrepresentation of the meaning of baptism.
Even after we returned to the mainland I presided at lots of baptisms, mostly but not all infants. It was not uncommon to have six to eight families lined up at the front of the sanctuary, several times a year. Keeping names straight was a challenge.
As I look back I realize I never baptized anyone of any age by total immersion the way some denominations do such as the Baptists and Pentecostals.
The past three Sundays Ruth and I have gone the immersion route, swimming prior to worship at North Beach Provincial Park in Prince Edward County. We were literally the first vehicle into this day park each week at 8:00 AM and for a few blessed minutes we were the only ones around other than staff. Yesterday we swam twice, first in Lake Ontario which was...bracing...then in the lagoon on the other side of the sand dunes -- blessedly much warmer.
While we didn't formally renew our baptismal vows there was a sense each time that this was a holy dunking. There is something about swimming, and particularly swimming in a lake or a river or an ocean that is sacred for us, even when it's cold enough to take your breath away. We both get in some actual swimming but we also lay on our backs to appreciate the birds and the clouds.
Each week we've felt enlivened, invigorated, as we headed on to the service at Trenton United.
I realize as well that there are sections in Voices United along with hymns in other resources that are essentially dry-docked for a lot of congregations because baptisms happen so seldom anymore. There are plenty of good ones. Should we take the plunge and have a Baptism hymn fest from time to time, a reminder of the aqueous joy of the sacrament?
Did Jesus and the disciples know how to swim? I think so, even though there was the whole walking on water thing for Jesus and he was baptized in a river.
4 I stand at the edge, lookin' down
too scared to swim, afraid I'll drown
give me the courage to journey on,
River run deep, River run free.
More Voices 163
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