Is The Church Relevant?

     Do you ever ask, “Is the church still relevant?”  I was given a resounding YES a few weeks ago as I gathered with those about to be baptized, their parents and godparents.  The children on this particular morning had decided on their own to be baptized after being present at the All Saints baptism.  They saw such joy in that experience that they wanted to be a part of it. 

     We began our time together that morning by wondering why we were there – “why the heck are we going through this ritual called baptism?”  The loudest resonance centered around compassion.   The antithesis of compassion surrounds us on a daily basis.  Baptism initiates us into the church which is Christ’s body.  The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was and is a total 180 degree message to the rigid rules, violence, and narcissism of the culture.  We want our children and ourselves to die to these temptations and be formed through Christ’s body, the church. 

     We next explored the Godly Play story of baptism.  We unpacked each aspect of the trinity.  As the water of creation is slowly poured into a bowl we remember many stories of water from the dangerous flood, to the waters that parted which led the people to freedom, to the water that Jesus was baptized in and then to the water that we will or have already been baptized in. 

     We moved on to the light of Christ.  We all received our light from the one Light (small candles are lit from one large one).  A joyful exclamation arose on seeing how bright the room was when we all had received our light.  Amazing still was how the one Light was not smaller after giving its light away.  The light was then changed.  We observed how initially the light was held in the one flame.  After the snuffer was held over the flame, the light was changed to a spiraling strand of smoke that spread throughout the room till we could see it no more.  We knew it was there yet we could not see it.  Anywhere we walked in the room from then on, we would run into the light of baptism.  The light could not be lost.

     Then we came to the Holy Spirit.  It is like a dove that rides the invisible wind and comes to us when we need power or comfort.  Like the invisible scent of the anointing oil, we know it is there, even though we cannot see it.  Young and old remembered stories of knowing the spirit being present in tough times.

The next day, much joy was experienced in the actual baptism.  So – YES – the church is relevant.   The light is growing from each baptism. 

There is one Body and one Spirit;

There is one hope in God’s call to us;

One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;

One God and Father of all.