Shorts & t-shirt day

We are supposed to have a baptismal service this morning... after our worship gathering... we are to drive a mile down the road to a pond... baptize some people... and celebrate with a cookout. But it rained all day yesterday, all night, and it's still raining. Hmm.

Today is also "shorts & t-shirt day" at church. I don't care if we can't have the baptismal service - I am STILL wearing my shorts!! I was once told I was out of line because I wore shorts to church - at our old church. I have always wondered how much that had to do with me becoming a pastor. I believe you oughta be able to wear whatever the heck you wanna wear. I think our attempts to impress God kinda miss the mark sometimes. Like... it's okay to not give a crap about the poor, the hurting, and whatnot... as long as you LOOK good.

Anyway, we had "shorts & t-shirt day" because I know there are some folks who were seriously considering baptism, but they were afraid to commit. So I thought if everybody came prepared to get wet, maybe they could still decide at the last minute to go ahead and let me dunk 'em. Yeah, we baptize by full immersion. You go down into the water - putting to rest your old way of life; you come up out of the water - rising a new person in Christ. It's symbolic, I suppose, but the very nature of symbolism carries with it much power - I believe anyway. If it's representing something, then something is happening, right?

Well, I dunno if we'll get to baptize or not. There was a day when I would be freaking out right now. I don't know if it's necessarily a good thing that I'm not - perhaps I've learned to not care as much, I dunno. But... we'll just play it by ear. 11:30 is a long time away. If we can't get to the pond, we'll probably just have the potluck at the church. In our shorts and t-shirts. Maybe it should be shorts & t-shirt day every day. I guess it is for some people in our church - just not me. Not yet.