Scripps Sunday- 12.29.24-- 22nd Celebration of your Baptism Edition

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HAPPY 22nd CELEBRATION OF YOUR BAPTISM.... 

I found this quote about baptism a number of years ago: "When parents have their children baptized they indicate their desire to have their children grow up and live as children of God and brothers or sisters of Jesus, and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Through birth a child is given to parents; through baptism a child is given to God. At baptism the parents acknowledge that their parenthood is a participation in God's parenthood, that all fatherhood and motherhood comes from God. Thus baptism frees the parents from a sense of owning their children. Children belong to God and are given to the parents to love and care for in God's name. It is the parents' vocation to welcome their children as honored guests in their home and bring them to the physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom that enables them to leave the home and become parents themselves. Baptism reminds parents of this vocation and sets children on the path of freedom."


And this poem below is one that I'd love to share with you on this celebration of December 29, 2002.

 
















Quiet

Our latest guest, a common loon,

arrived this winter unannounced

and bringing gifts- guests do that,

bring gifts—filling heart and home

with beauty: wild, elusive, sleep,

low in the water, this contemplative

loon is an icon for living present

but detached. I rarely see him fly
but he can fly. This loon dives, dives
long and deep. No mere

surface bird, he goes for the depths.

When he dives, I think he prays,

searching deep waters
for what keeps him and us alive,
grace and quiet, buoyant with Presence.

-Eugene Peterson, Holy Luck

 

Eugene Peterson wrote this poem above about one of the many guests who showed up to Flathead Lake – a common loon. In that loon, Peterson saw something intriguing and important:

Low in the water, this contemplative
loon is an icon for living present
but detached.

This common loon is a window into the unseen angles that give integral shape to the pastoral vocation. One of those angles is spiritual direction, “living present, but detached.” Pastoral life is being present with people, but detached from managing, fixing, controlling, or manipulating them.

I rarely see him fly
but he can fly. This loon dives, dives
long and deep. No mere surface
bird, he goes for the depths.

Another angle is paying attention to the Scriptures: diving deep, going for the depths – low in the water. The common loon is not a flashy flyer or a mere surface bird. The loon spends a fair amount of time diving, exploring, hunting, and hidden under water. Other birds (or congregants) might be suspicious, “What are they doing down there for so long?” The contemplative loon (and pastor) knows that there is treasure down there.

When he dives
I think he prays, searching deep waters
for what keeps him and us alive,
grace and quiet, buoyant with Presence.

The final angle is prayerfulness – searching, deep crying out to deep. The vastness of God’s grace in the quiet waters is the life of the pastor and the life of the church. Daily provision is found underneath our surface identities – down, down low in the water to our most basic baptismal identity: beloved.

-Low in the Water Podcast, https://petersoncenter.org/low-in-the-water-podcast/


May you go into your second half of your senior year remembering your baptismal identity again and again. Beloved is always where we begin. 


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