Baptising the grands

Yesterday I had the pleasure and privilege of being able to baptize 3 of our 4 grandchildren. Words do no justice here... but alas... I will record some thoughts nonetheless.

I was pretty excited when I first heard they wanted to be baptized. That excitement cranked to ELEVEN when one of them texted me and asked if I would do it! 

We actually got together a couple times to discuss what it meant and how it would/should go, plus our pastor sent some resources for them to read. I was more than satisfied even with what they had already learned about it at the Lutheran school they attend. They knew more than I did when I took the plunge.  

There were a number of people getting baptized on this day and the pastor sent some basic instructions. The church is open to allowing for different beliefs about baptism, and encouraging for people to have someone special do the honors, so I sort of planned out how I intended to do things.

I was going to share a few words about each of the grandkids, then offer a prayer for the three of them together - which would kind of sum up their feelings as well as my own beliefs that baptism is much more than just us taking a step of faith, but also God working his grace within and through us. Then I would baptize each of them one at a time using the vows supplied by the pastor.

Well, as is per usual at our church, when we arrived Sunday morning, and they realized there were going to be 18 people baptized, they changed the plan slightly. It wasn't a big deal, but they asked everyone to be brief (a couple minutes): say something about the candidate, ask them for a few words about why they wanted to be baptized, then do the dunking. So we changed on the fly and it worked out fine. Mostly I just didn't do the prayer, which was probably longer than it should have been anyway.

As for how the morning went:

The kids did fine, other than the boys were somewhat picking at each other while standing up front. I'm sure they were nervous, as we were in the main sanctuary and there was probably at least double the number of people who are usually in attendance. Personally, I have no recollection of what I even said. I kind of "winged it." It was about them, after all, so I doubt anyone was even paying attention to me.

I did find it interesting the number of people whose parents did the baptizing, and the number of mothers who did it (as opposed to fathers or both).

I believe there were only 3 adults baptized; the majority were middle school-ish age.  

We did manage to get everyone baptized, sing several songs as usual, and the pastor did some teaching on baptism beforehand - all in just over an hour. 

All told, it was a pretty emotional day for me. However, because everything changed sort of last minute, I was much more emotional before it happened, and even now, as opposed to at the moment. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of much during the actual ceremony. Such is life. 

For what it's worth, here are the vows I asked of each child:

QUESTION 1 - "Do you desire to love and follow Jesus with all you are and all you will become?" (yes or I do)

QUESTION 2 - "Do you commit to belonging and being known in the church for your own growth and the good of the world?" (yes or I do)

BAPTISMAL STATEMENT: "Based upon your desire to love and follow Jesus and to belong to His family, and the many ways we see God's Spirit alive and at work in your life, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."