Hey! If this is your first time at this blog, this is a blog that we (Annie and Mike Ossewaarde) have kept up very infrequently since we've been married. I (Mike) regularly make resolutions that I will keep up in posting, but I rarely follow through. Today, I have something that might be of interest to the folks at First Pres Harbor Springs.
Sunday September 9th will be FPCHS's service downtown at the boathouse in Harbor Springs. It's a service about community, enjoying the outdoors before the weather takes a turn for the worst, and baptism.
In my theology classes back at Hope we dug very briefly into baptism as a sacrament. I'm sure many far more important things were taught about this special sacrament, but this is what I brought with me out of the classroom--Baptism, wherever and however it is done (full immersion vs. drips, infant vs. adult) is more than a symbol. It is an act and a beckoning of the Holy Spirit in the same way prayer is a beckoning of the Holy Spirit. And it's not just a cleansing thing...because after all, the cleanest guy to ever walk the planet was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. So not only are we cleansed in the holy waters, we are also baptized into something. It's another invitation to participate in the Church... an group of people committed simply to loving God and others. How about that? Sounds pretty good to me.
But, I'll admit, I'm tempted to ask: "Why full immersion when I could stay dry and have some water dripped on my forehead?"
Because a lot of how we live and what we do is about staying clean, dry and presentable. I like to look at baptism in comparison to some formal occasion like a wedding, prom, or a banquet. We take some time to look and feel our absolute best for such occasions. And since somewhere inside us lingers an overwhelming desire for these events to go perfectly; we find ourselves praying for perfect weather, no rain, no clouds, not too hot, not to cold, absolutely no humidity...but not dry either. We also pray that certain people don't miss their important cues, that the musicians don't mess up or forget to show up, that Cousin Louie doesn't make a fool of himself and his family again, or that the candles don't set the centerpieces on fire. I remember holding my breath as thunder rang in the skies as Annie walked down the aisle in our wedding. We are always hoping for the best, which strangely seems to mean hoping for the avoidance of worst. We wouldn't want any rain/wind/humidity to mess up anyone's hair! What would that do to our precious pictures and our memories?!
Getting baptized isn't much like going to a black tie occasion. It's more like going tubing behind a powerboat. It's exhilarating, it's a leap of faith, it's a leap of trust! And you get wet. There's really no two ways around it. It doesn't happen to matter that it's raining or humid, you're getting a bath either way (as a side note, the youth went tubing on Burt Lake last weekend and it was rainy and muggy. We had a blast). You walk toward shore drenched, cleansed, blessed, and uneasy and God smiles. You feel hardly even a hint of comfort. This is a excerpt from Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies...
"Can you imagine the hopelessness of trying to live a spiritual life when you're secretly looking up at the skies not for illumination or direction but to gauge, miserably, the odds of rain? Can you imagine how discouraging it was for me to live in fear of weather, of drizzle or downpour? Because Christianity is about water: "Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." It's about baptism, for God's sake. It's about full immersion, about falling into something elemental and wet. Most of what we do in worldly life is geared toward our staying dry, looking good, not going under. But in baptism, in lakes and rain and tanks and fonts, you agree to do something that's a little sloppy because at the same time it's also holy, and absurd. it's about surrender, giving in to all those things we can't control; it's a willingness to let go of balance and decorum and get drenched."
We like balance and decorum and ease and comfort. It's not until we get drenched that we realize how much we needed a good dunk. It's an opportunity to let go of stability and to roll with the punches.
Lamott finishes her passage saying: "Furthermore, I don't think you're supposed to devote so much of your prayer life to the desperate hope that there not be any weather." We look forward to Sunday the 9th!
