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Adapting and Postponing Life Milestones: COVID-19 and Baptisms
Shutdowns and restrictions on gatherings have forced families around the world to restrict or postpone vital life milestones, including funerals and weddings. Many baptisms also have been postponed, because they involve gatherings and intimate contact that could pose risks of infection. In most Christian traditions the ritual depends on physical touch, as religious leaders either fully immerse the person they’re baptizing into a pool of water or hold infants in their arms as they sprinkle water on their heads, then anoint them with oil. More important, baptism is as much a community celebration as it is an individual achievement. For Episcopalians, for example, the whole congregation is meant to witness the ritual and agree to support the newly baptized individual in their faith journey. The community needs to be present. One pastor described the frustrations involved in restricting attendance and spreading out baptisms thusly: “bringing (someone) into the body of the faithful at a distance feels very odd.”
While many baptisms are awaiting the easing of restrictions, others have adapted rituals with safety in mind. One baptism in Salt Lake City involved a garden hose. Others have involved swimming pools with witnesses present by Zoom.
(Based on: June 1, 2020, Deseret article.)
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