Dear Beloveds,
I am glad to be back writing here after two Sundays off due to illness. I deeply thank everyone who so kindly and effectively covered for me when I was ill. I remain for all of the congregational efforts — those visible and those invisible.
As we prepare to gather this Sunday in the sanctuary for worship, I am excited to share that we will engage the Sacrament of Baptism as a community — baptizing across the generations of one family!
This intergenerational gift before and among us, affirms our congregation’s newer commitment to faith formation across all ages.
The words of our Baptismal promises for children come to mind:
As you bring your child to receive the gift of baptism, you are entrusted with the responsibilities:
to live with them among God’s faithful people,
bring them to the word of God and the holy supper
teach them the Lord’s prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments,
place in their hands the holy scriptures,
and nurture them in faith and prayer,
so that your children may earn to trust God.
proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made,
and work for justice and peace.
These promises mean similar and different things for children and adults. I wonder about the ways God will work in our congregation’s life to bring these promises to life across the generations in this season in our congregation’s faith formation.
What does the Magnolia tree teach us this week?
The Magnolia tree hosted space on this past Easter Sunday for the first Baptism we had during the pandemic. The tree’s pink and white flowers had peaked a few days before the baptism itself, yet the beauty of the flowers remained in the atmosphere around the tree.
The tree reminded us of the incarnation of God’s love in Jesus Christ and how our Creator God is still creating — through trees and plants and other living things.
Now every time I look at the Magnolia tree, I remember our Easter Baptism of dear baby Magnolia. And I am grateful to be in intergenerational faith formation with her and big brother Weston. I trust God will form my faith more fully because I am in relationship with two precious children who face a world very different from the one I grew up in.
God will grace us as a congregation through this Sunday’s Baptisms — may we notice grace.
In Christ,
Pastor Karen Brau
