Recall with me one of the very first concepts that human children learn mine . We learn that so well, and so young my bottle, my teddy bear, my book, my blocks, my crayons. But soon we children discover that others exist and that with them we must share. The direction of life, from intimacy to community. This direction of life is the direction of baptism.
Baptism begins in a place of great intimacy at the font.
We come to the baptismal font cradled in the love of family and surrounded with promises. Claiming us as a beloved child. Giving us a name and an identity Bequeathing to us a royal inheritance Filling us with purpose and a calling. That scene of intense intimacy moves quickly to a vision that includes the world, and the community welcomes the newly baptized person into the Lord s family to be a worker in the kingdom of God. I think that throughout our life we long to recapture that baptismal moment of intense intimacy with God.