Another First

Imagine the scene. . . I walk into a Sporting Goods store looking for the fishing section. The clerk comes up to me to ask what I am interested in buying. I say waders. "Really, waders?" He asks. "What for?" To which I reply: "I'm a Baptist minister who needs them for a baptism . . ." Imagine the look on his unsuspecting guy's face. Priceless. He didn't know how to respond what so ever.

I'm happy to report I picked out the cutest waders there. They look like overalls that I wore in high school, dark green with a pocket in the front just perfect for the wireless mic I would need to have on my person during the ceremony.

This Sunday the waiters got their first official use. The senior pastor, Charlie was out of town so he gave me the responsibility of doing the baptism for a new member of our congregation, a very tall young man originally from Chad, AFRICA (how wonderful was that?). I was a bit overwhelmed when Charlie first asked me to do this. My mind suddenly went back to the days of playing preacher (ok, so don't laugh here when your dad is a minister what else do you know to do?) in the pool with my friends "baptizing" them (or trying to see how only they could stay under water was more like it). I wished I paid more attention to those days so I wouldn't be so freaked out to the idea. I attended a Methodist seminary so I got no practice there. While my Baptist theology class took a field trip to practice one afternoon, for some reason I skipped and was paying the price for this when my first assignment came along
So, I knew I needed practice. Along came Jeff, a friend of Kevin's volunteered. We met on Saturday morning to practice. Jeff is a devoted Catholic who was sprinkled as a child, so when we walked into the sanctuary and he saw the baptismal full of water, his first reaction was "Wow, this is like a church with Sea World in it!" (He was surprised there were no dolphins flying out when we got closer). Kevin, became the photographer and videographer as well. My first attempts were bad, I must admit. It was quite hard both getting Jeff all the way down as well as getting him back up too. It was difficult taking the whole practice experience seriously especially as I for some reason couldn't say Jeff's middle name correctly (he had to re-pronounce it for me several times). But, thanks to Jeff, footage of the experience is now on You Tube if you would like to see some of my practice runs yourself.

When it came to the big day, I think I held it together as best I could. Might you, my first experience in the baptismal pool came a very short 8 minutes after I just gave the sermon. It was the mad dash of my life to get to the changing rooms, put the waiters and the robe on and still have some measure of composure before heading into the pool. But, I didn't drown Valery and I got him completely under and back up. I remembered the order of the liturgy I was to say. I count this first experience as a success, especially because I got through it.

Baptists are strange at times, but I guess I'll continue on in the tradition with my new waders to keep me dry.