Dear People of Christ Church,

This Sunday we celebrate the baptisms of Abram Leonardo and Abigail Sobosik. Abigail is the granddaughter of longtime Christ Churchers Jeanne and Jim McDonald, and joins siblings Ava and Petey-all of whom were also baptized here. Their family lives near Worcester, now, but it's good to welcome them home to Waltham where their parents, Pete and Belinda, were also married. Abram most recently graced our sanctuary in playing baby Jesus in the Pageant, so he will surely take being dunked with water in stride.

This past Sunday we threw water around, too. For our children's sermon we talked about Jesus' baptism-I believe it was Donovan who painted the vivid picture for us of John "shoving him under the water" in the river Jordan. We talked about the symbolism of water, and how the water blessing weaves imagery from all the way through the Christian story. From the beginning of creation when the Holy Spirit moved over it, to the Israelites walking through the red sea, to Jesus being baptized-water has always been a dynamic gift, both physical (we are, after all made of it) and spiritual. After we prayed over it, the kids got to do the asperges (the sprinkling of holy water on the people)-a blessing in so many ways. Putting our wet hands to our heads, we said, "I belong to Christ."

I have written in this space before about how kids in worship help us all-sometimes we get so serious and solemn about things, and they just help us to lighten up. Respect is certainly appropriate, and we need to remember and to connect with the majesty and grandeur of our faith. But there is also so much about life on earth that is just intended for our joy. There is a line in the Eucharistic prayer that says "you made us for yourself"-God's action in creation isn't some kind of distant, impersonal speech-it's celebration and song and delight. We are God's-in English the possessive is expressed kind of weakly with that little --'s--but in Greek there is a whole different verb conjugation for it. The possession is located not in the owner, but in the action itself; somehow it seems even more powerful to me that way. It's not just me that is God's, it's also the belonging itself.

So, this Sunday, be there--and come expecting to get wet!

Blessings,

Sara+