Dear Friends
I can’t believe that we are coming up on the third Sunday of Lent and are just a few weeks away from Easter. This year we’re doing something special, we’re holding an Easter Sunday afternoon social at Nigel and Gerry’s home in worthing. (Sunday March 27th). It’ll be a very special social event since we’re going to be performing baptisms in their pool.
Easter Sunday is the perfect day to be baptised. It is on this day that we celebrate the risen Christ in our midst, and feel the invitation to join the larger community of faith. Nigel and Gerry’s home is perfect, (Thanks guys), because it’s a private garden and they have a lovely outdoor heated pool. We’ll invite Jesus to be with us, share food, sing songs, and commit to walking in his footsteps.
Baptism is so many different things to different people. For some baptism is about salvation, receiving the gift of life from Jesus and committing to him in response. For others it’s a fresh start, a clear slate, a putting aside all that has gone before and a welcome to whatever new things God wants to bring into our life. It may be that for us it’s simply an affirmation of our willingness to walk in Jesus footsteps – to Love God and each other, to sow love, peace, and grace wherever we can. Maybe we’ve changed so much over the years that we want to affirm who we are now as opposed to who we were. God loves us whoever we are, but believing that is often a step taken far along the path. Maybe we now believe in ways that are deeper and more significant to us and we wish to acknowledge that.
We come from so many different traditions I can’t say that any one is more valid than another. What they have in common is community and an acknowledgement that our lives are a part of something bigger than ourselves. Perhaps we just want to get together with friends, share food, and be part of a very special event. That’s good too.
Lent is about the journey in the wilderness and Easter Sunday is the revelation. From the wilderness we walk through the dark of Good Friday, the loss and despair of Saturday, into the light of Easter Sunday. The journey in the wilderness is an emptying of ourselves, and the witness of Easter Sunday is the filling of that emptiness. From the loneliness of the wilderness to the company of Saints. Easter Sunday is the perfect day to be baptised.
If you’d like to be baptised on easter Sunday, or If you need a ride out to Nigel and Gerry’s (They live just off the A27 in Worthing), then let me know.
I hope you’re enjoying Lent, that your wilderness journey is taking you towards the God that wants so much to fill you with good things.
Love
Rev. Michael