A Year With God, Day 22 of 366

Today, four young people were baptised at my church.  The first had a crowd of family members to witness and support him.  The other three had no one, or at least no one who came forward.

And as I watched the youth pastor say a few words about each of them, and lead a prayer for each of them, and baptise each of them, it occurred to me how brave they must be.

My own baptism was years ago, a mere formality.  It was more something to get out of the way, than a profound confession of faith.

I looked at those young people, and I prayed and clapped and cheered for them with the rest of the congregation.  And I realized how blessed I was to have family and friends to lead and teach and support me.  How lucky I was to have attended a very small church and have a personal relationship with several wonderful pastors who led me to question and learn and be confident in my faith.  And I thought how it was all wasted on me, because I didn't appreciate any of it.

I thought how much more courage it must take to stand up in front of the church alone, facing many people you might not even know, and confess your faith.  I am a bit of a coward, I realize, because I don't know that I could do the same without my family by my side.

I feel blessed to witness it.  I was blessed to see Pastor Scott talk about the personal relationship he had with each of them.  I hope they felt blessed as well, and that they sensed the joy and pride we all in the congregation felt with them.

I thought of Elijah, in 1 Kings 19:9-11

There he [Elijah] went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him:  "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

He replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.  The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."

The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the the Lord is about to pass by."

My prayer for those baptised today is this-- that they will stand up before all men as they stood before the church today, confident in their faith, as Elijah was.  And I pray that when they get tired and weary and afraid and lonely, as Elijah did, that they will feel the presence of the Lord, as Elijah did.

Amen.