Dear Covenant Community,

Yesterday was a very special day for me and for this congregation. We began with a reaffirmation of our baptismal promises in the morning, following a sermon by The Rev. Sharon Core, General Presbyter of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve. The opening words of the liturgy were written by Maren Tirabassi, who speaks to the multitude of ways we can remember our baptism:

Every time we turn on the faucet or turn off the teakettle,

every time we fill a washing machine or empty the bathtub,

every time we boil a potato or shampoo the hair of someone who can’t raise their arms,

every time we irrigate crops or eyes,

every time we diaper a baby, shed a tear with a friend,

or offer a stranger something to drink,

every time we listen to raindrops fall, watch snow melt,

or just complain about the drip from a pipe we can’t afford to repair,

every time, every time,

we remember we are baptized.

Maybe it happened in a church or a lake or a river,

long ago or yesterday.

Maybe we are still swimming toward it,

or it never happened and never will.

God doesn’t mind.

Theologically speaking,

the faucet or the stranger,

either one,

would be enough.

After we affirmed our baptismal vows, we used branches to fling water on congregants up and down the sanctuary in a religious ritual called “aspersion”. If you felt the sprinkles, I hope you remembered your own baptism (if you are baptized) or that it made you wonder (if you aren’t baptized) whether God is calling you in that direction.

In baptism, God claims us, and seals us to show that we belong to God.

Later in the afternoon, the presbytery installed me as Pastor/Head of Staff for The Church of the Covenant. Granted, I’ve been preaching and ministering here for almost three years, but that was on a year-to-year contract. When I first came to Covenant, I was the fourth Pastor/Head of Staff in four years and all those transitions came with their own bits of drama, conflict and readjustment, including my own. None of us could be certain how it would all go. But yesterday when I knelt for the prayer of installation beside the baptismal font, I felt nothing but gratitude.

Thank you to everyone who made the day so special; the Covenant staff, the Presbytery, musicians, members and volunteers, friends and colleagues who showed up to help celebrate. I hold you all in my heart, including the ones who couldn’t make it in person, but offered prayers and support.

Pastoral ministry is just one way I live out my baptismal identity. So is marriage and parenting and being a good neighbor. How do you live out your baptismal identity?