Lent is a great time to think about being baptised (christened as some people call it). We had our 3 short services of ashing at church and shared in home visits for ashing too. Most of our Lent materials have been taken away and shared too - Sacred Space, Live Life Love Lent (for families) and a great new Lent magazine I found at St. Deny's bookshop by Redemptorist for this season with a colourful pull-out poster of daily movement by sticking a set of footsteps getting closer to Holy Week and Easter. So, baptism...I had a great conversation with someone wanting baptism because she's going to be a Godparent in a different church and has been told she has to be 'christened'. As we talked she made me think again about the ways in which the church makes ways or blocks ways for people to meet directly with God in baptism and communion.
Baptism is a sacrament - a sign and symbol of God's fantastic invitation and love which gets wrapped in a word called grace. It is so full - grace. As we talked about baptism being a new start with Gods support and by taking part in Gods story by following Jesus we got onto the waters being actual ways of God sweeping away the junk of our past so that it doesn't trap us anymore - the things others have done, the names we have been called, what hurts have been done to us - that our real lives can be renewed - and Lent, the run-up to Easter, is a great time to think about doing baptism and getting a spring-clean in our lives that lasts forever but needs our ongoing involvement.
