The church program read, “Celebration of Baptism”…
I was eight years old but I knew exactly what that meant…
It meant fifteen boring minutes of reading back and forth between the congregation and the minister…
Or fifteen minutes of passing notes and whispering to my friends…
The minister stood…
His face was serious.
“We have come,” he intoned, “to a solemn moment…The Celebration of Baptism”.
The organ played…
The minister read…
The congregation read…
Finally, the baptism ended.
Without a hint of a smile, the minister looked at the participants and said…
“With joy and thanksgiving we welcome you as members of the family of Christ.”
“Which is it,” I wondered, “joyful or solemn?”
How does heaven react?
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:7
Heaven is rejoicing.
Heaven is filled with joy…elation…jubilation…delight…
But we have come to, “A solemn moment, the celebration of Baptism”.
Have we been using those words for so many years, decades, centuries that we forget their real meaning?
Why not replace ‘celebration’ with its dictionary synonyms in that sentence?
And now we come to a solemn moment… the gala of baptism
A solemn moment… the festival of Baptism
A solemn moment… the party of baptism
A solemn moment … the carnival of baptism
A solemn moment… the merriment of baptism
Baptism is an important moment…
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
But is baptism a solemn moment?
Sounds more like a good reason to celebrate…
Let’s have party at church this weekend…
No, let’s make it a festival, a carnival…
Who knows?
Maybe we can come close to matching the merriment and joy and elation in Heaven over the salvation of one lost soul.
2 thoughts on “A Baptism Carnival?”
Absolutely! It’s definitely a reason to celebrate.
Amen. God gives us so much to celebrate!