Help with BAPTISMS!
I never baptized anyone before yesterday. But I was able to declare to two sisters in Christ that they now bear the "name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit" and "dunk" them into a big pool of water while wearing a white robe. I love baptism for so many reasons, so it was beautiful to administer that sacrament.
Beforehand, Robert Gelinas ran into Jim's office, made the sign of the cross on my forehead with his fingers and said "I ordain you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." It was a funny, odd, and deep moment. Funny because Robert apparently deemed it appropriate to sum up the whole of ordination into ten seconds, as if to play an immense practical joke on my UMC tendencies. Odd because the moment seemed a mixture of loving humor and deep pastoral concern. Deep because I've never thought much about what ordination means and wonder if in that odd moment God opened up a new way for me to channel his grace, even if just for a morning.
So THAT was something new and awesome and nerve-wracking and blessed.
SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOOOHH, I love how you expressed that. :) A life-shifting morning. The reality of both the immensity and the... normality (?) of Christ's work in our lives.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great C.S. Lewis and N.T. Wright reference.