A Baptismal Love Letter

Dear little child, miracle boy, beloved of your tender fierce mother, and strong proud papa. You are beloved of your aunties and pepes, your kissing cousins who are so excited to meet you for the first time today. Welcome to the waters of life, dear Matthew, the waters that have washed us also, the waters that bind us to Jesus and to one another. Welcome home Matthew. We claim you as our kin,

Dear little child we remember that not so long ago you were very very sick. Like the desperately ill little girl who lived in a Palestinian town near the Mediterranean Sea more than 2000 years ago, you have a mother who will pound on any door to get you what you need. Like that little girl’s mother, your very own mother would not go away quietly if the last best hope for healing stamped not eligible, no insurance, denied on her plea on your behalf. And we would be right there with her, raising the roof to make sure that you got what you need. But by God’s grace your mother didn’t need to argue with the healers. Your mother was able to just love you, and hold you, and pray for you. She and your Dad will remember day you came home from the hospital was one of the happiest days of their lives.

After a bit of a detour, dear one, you are off to a good life. We wonder what you will do with the years in front of you. We wonder if you will engineer cars that run on a fuel that has not yet been invented or write poetry. We wonder if you will sing Figaro’s arias or country and western ballads. We wonder if you will run for Congress or the Boston Marathon. We wonder what you will make of all the things that your parents, and your teachers, and your kinfolk will teach you about what it means to be a human being, and what it means to be a beloved child of God.

Two things we hope you will learn about this day in which you are washed with the waters of Baptism.

First, we hope you learn well that no one is baptized alone. When you see the pictures from this day you will be the focus of attention, you will be the one everyone is cooing over. And so we should, dear Matthew. But even though you are the only person splashed today, you are one of a whole company of saints, past present and yet to come, who have passed through these waters of liberation and new life. Your huge extended family whose last name is Christian has obligations to you, and you to them. We are bound together in God’s love, and through God’s love, and we are responsible loving, and healing as Jesus did.

Matthew, beloved child of God, it is your obligation to make sure that no other person is treated like a dog. Dogs get leftovers. If there is not enough, dogs go hungry. Trips to the vet are optional. Dogs stay home alone whether they like it or not. Matthew, your kindred all across this globe are as beloved of God as you are. It is your mission, and our mission, to love each other tenderly, generously. It is your mission and our mission to have an expansive sense of how our actions affect others for good or for ill. It is your mission, and our mission, to pass the baskets and make sure that the essentials of life are available to everyone: daily bread, safe water, literacy and basic health care. And this is not Mission Impossible. The Reign of God is here, and is coming, and will grow more and more visible when you put your hands and your feet to work to make it so.

The second thing we hope you learn about your baptism today is that the Good News of God’s amazing love needs to be told and that you need to tell it. Healing happens. It happened to you at the beginning of your life and it will happen over and over again. Your first girlfriend will dump you, and maybe the second. People in your family will die. You may have a hard time in school, or meet up with some bullies. God’s grace and the love of your family – the ones sitting next to you and all of us gathered around you today – God’s love and the love of your big ragtag family will get you through whatever tribulations lie ahead. And as you recover, as you overcome, you will discover that Grace opens your ears to hear a new song that you couldn’t hear until life as normal crumbled around you. When you hear that new song, you need to bear witness to the Grace. We have heard it too and we will do our best bear witness to how Grace healed us, and set us free. You, dear Matthew, will have grace stories that the world needs to hear that only you can tell. Open your lips, dear Matthew, and let the grace flow.

Come to the water of life. Come to the Bath of faith. Come, dear Matthew, and take your own special place in the Reign of God.