Wow, this past Sunday was a highlight for Engage. We turned one year old and baptized seven of our friends as a statement of their faith and trust in Jesus. As we baptized our friends I watched you. Many of you were moved to tears and some of you tough guys even choked up a bit (I saw it :)). I thought about it for a while on Sunday. Why is baptism such a powerful symbol? Why does this symbol evoke such strong emotions deep in our souls? I think it’s because of story and hope. Each person who was baptized told their story. The stories were laced with raw honesty and confession. The stories told of hurt and loss, pain and emptiness but they didn’t end there. Each of the stories moved from void or loss or regret–to hope. Hope that something better and fuller has been found through knowing and trusting the Creator who came to be with us in Jesus. I watched you grimace as you identified with the emptiness or darker sides of the stories. I was moved as you teared up or broke a smile when you heard story after story. Redemption breaking through layers of doubt and skepticism or hurt and loss. Why is this? Many of you didn’t even personally know those whom were being baptized? The reason is simple. We want reasons to hope and when we find corners of this world where hope wins over our cynicism it moves us in deep ways. My hope is that Engage is a community where hope is always winning. Not fake, syrupy, conjured sentimentalism living in refusal to see reality. No–more like the refusal to give in to the cynical impulses that so quickly leap, squelching our imaginations of faith. There is a reason why Jesus was always pointing to little children when teaching about trust and faith. Children aren’t cynics. They believed God could work in ways that are befitting of, um, God. They have the faith to dream of God-shaped possibilities in this world. May hope increase and fear be extinguished as we continue to get to know the ultimate source of hope–Jesus Christ. I’m sure those who were baptized would love a note as to what their courage meant to you. Click on the header title of this post and leave a comment for all or one of our friends. We will make sure they see all of the comments.
Follow this link to view more pictures on our Flickr account
Peace,
jon
Mike Greene Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Amy Greene Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Mitchell Greene Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Evelyn Cruzat Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Elijah Hyndman Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Desirae Moyer Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
Anna Jane Friess Baptism @ Engage from Engage Community Church on Vimeo.
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This entry was written by , posted on January 12, 2010 at 12:14 pm, filed under What's Next, blog and tagged baptism, doubt, engage, engage church, faith. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
