Shall we gather at the river....

Shall we gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river....

Over the fourth of July (Happy Birthday, America!), we had a family reunion in the hills of East Tennessee, about an hour from where I was bred and buttered, as a friend used to call it. On the fifth of July, we drove to the river, and I finally baptized some of my family. I say finally not because of trepidation or backsliding on their part, but because I haven't seen them for way too long, and so my promise to baptize them had been delayed.

Jordan river, chilly and cold;
It chills the body, not the soul....

We were an assortment of people, family all, but several different shades of skin color, lots of different ages, and even several different church backgrounds and so several different baptismal theologies. A Catholic priest friend of mine calls that kind of gathering "a dress rehearsal for heaven."

One young man was of age to make the decision for himself, and was dunked in the good Baptist tradition of his family. Three others were between the age of not using all her words to about to go into kindergarten, for whom water in the shape of the cross on the forehead was proper for their families. And the little ones didn't like the idea of getting dunked in that cold water, even though they splashed around in it afterwards. The late entry to the ceremony was a brother-in-law who is about my age (we aren't naming years, friends).

So here we were, a variegated collection in most every category, standing in a chilly mountain river or safe and dry on shore, being baptized in various ways at various ages or witnessing to their baptism.

There is a privilege to my profession in being present when the Holy Spirit shows up. There is something just right about a group of people who love each other, and who have loved each other through times both good and difficult, gathering for the blessing of children (of whatever age!). And as I walked to each one, whether they were standing on their own or carried in a parent's arms, there was something sacred about that moment.

And there was something precious about the children splashing in the water after their baptism, getting more comfortable, wading in the same water that moments before was "tooooo coooooold." My prayer for each of them is to get more comfortable in that water, to learn to splash, or to swim, or to simply float and rest in the love of God.

....Wade in the water,
God's gonna trouble the water....