Invisible Grace

On Sunday, my parents' 35th wedding anniversary, Emma went to her first church service. She was baptized at The Prebyterian Church, Sewickley - the same church where I was baptized 30 years ago. My parents, Jeremy's parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my aunt, uncle and cousin were all in attendance along with some of our family friends that are part of the congregation.

Jeremy and I met with the minister on Saturday to discuss the details of the baptism and where in the service it would fall. Since Jeremy is Catholic, the minister went over what it means to be baptized in our church. I was happy to hear the explanation too since, although I know what baptisim is and what it means in our church, I had never really heard a formal definition. He described it as 'a visible sign of an invisible grace'. I thought it was a beautiful way to put it. I know many denominations view baptism in different ways and many don't believe in baptizing babies, but in our church we do it to celebrate the birth of a baby. We make promises to the baby to support and nurture in the Christian faith. Most importantly it is to recognize God's promise. Our church believes in baptizing in the during the church service in the presence of the church's congregation rather than in a private ceremony for family and friends. Since we don't have godparents, it is the belief that it's not only the family's responsibility, but also the congregation's, to raise the child in the life of the church. In essence, they all are the child's godparents.

We chose my family's church for several reasons, but one important reason is that there are so many people that are important in our lives that are a part of that church. Many of the people who were there on Sunday have known me since I was just a child and some even as a baby. Some of my family's best friends started as my parents' friends when they joined the church 30 years ago. Some of them may have even witnessed my baptism. We wanted her to be baptized in a church family that would always be part of her life even it if it was only during visits to Sewickley; a place where she will always have people that know her and love her outside of her family.

I wasn't sure what to expect during the service. Emma can be unpredictable. I expected her either to be curious about the process and quietly observe all that was happening or to scream like a banshee. When the minister told us the morning before that the baptism would occur in the first 15 minutes of the service, I was very relieved. I figured she could do 15 minutes. There would be lots of music in the beginning that would hopefully cover any of her 'chitter chatter'. What actually happened in reality, I could not have expected! For the first 10 minutes, she sat happily on my lap in her beautiful white dress, quietly gnawing the trunk of her new stuffed elephant. Eventually she began to fuss just a bit, so I craddled her in my arms, in the position that usually comforts her, and gave her a binkie. In about 2 minutes, she was sound asleep! They called us up to the baptismal font and she continued to sleep.

The minister said a few prayers, my dad read a question to the congregation, and I stated her Christian name 'Emma Jane' all while she slept. It was time to pass her to the minister - an act which I was sure would elicit screams. She stayed asleep! He put water on her head which, again, I feared would upset her immensly, but she slept. The minister even walked her up the aisle of the sanctuary to present her to the church and announced that indeed she was 'sound asleep'. I was shocked and amazed! She continued to sleep for the rest of the service and only woke up after the service had officially ended!

After the service, many members of our church family came to meet her and tell me how much they'd heard about her and how many prayers had been said for her. Others that I hadn't seen for many years were amazed to see me standing up there with my child remembering me as a child myself. One man greeted me and simply said 'Generations, Erin." It was then that it really hit me how special a day this really was not only because Emma was welcomed into kingdom of God, but because she had been welcomed in the same place where I had with water from the same baptismal font. Hearing all the well wishes, about how many prayers had been said and seeing how many people were truly happy to finally meet Emma meant so much and made me realize that it was exactly the right place to have this 'invisible grace' bestowed upon our little Emma!