Dan Czaplewski posted on December 04, 2007 12:13
On Tuesday last week I celebrated my 51st birthday. In school chapel on Wednesday we had our baptismal remembrance service for November and December baptismal birthdays. As a result, I got to remember my two birthdays in the same week.
It made me think about the relationship between the two birthdays. Without my BIRTH day, I wouldn’t have had a baptismal birthday. Without my baptismal birthday, what would my BIRTH day have mattered? The gift of new life is somewhat dependent on the gift of life. At the same time the gift of new life is the only thing that can give the gift of life any meaning.
I have to be honest and say that my appreciation for the gift of my baptism has grown over time. I didn’t always understand it as important. I can remember feeling it was important, though. I remember that as a child I would stand in the front of the church for Vacation Bible School or Sunday School programs. Being close to the baptismal font was always special for reasons I felt but didn’t understand. There was always a sense of wonder at being near the font.
As I grew older, I could recite the sections on baptism from the Small Catechism and, later, I read the more complex doctrinal statements about baptism. I suppose I know quite a bit about baptism but, every time I officiate at a baptism or experience a baptismal remembrance, I have a bit of that wonder I felt as a child.
I suppose that birth is much the same. I know the biology of birth, but when I watched my sons being born or when I see a newborn, I am caught up with wonder. So, in between the balloons and the choruses of “Happy Birthday” last week, there was a little wonder. The Psalmist tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” In Holy Baptism, I was fearfully and wonderfully remade.
If you have some time today, remember your baptism. Look at the pictures or pull out the certificate. If you’re a little younger, maybe relight the candle. I think you, too, will experience some of the wonder all over again.