by Pam Tinsley

At Pentecost I had the joy of preparing an eight-year-old child for baptism. As I met with Merritt, her parents, and her sponsors, I loved how engaged she was. I was also excited to learn she was the one who had expressed a desire to be baptized.

I shared how Jesus himself was baptized by John the Baptist before he began any of his ministry and that by being baptized Merritt was taking her first formal step in following Jesus. Baptism, I said, is the beginning of a life-long journey of faith – a faith that has love at its heart. So, baptism is about choosing to love others each day, because God loved us first. All of humankind and all of creation are God’s beloved.

Throughout our conversations, Merritt asked several questions, and then she asked the one that opened the door to amazing grace! I had shared that baptism was the first sacrament Jesus initiated, which – of course – led to the definition of a sacrament, an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace. Merritt had been wondering what grace was because her family sings the beloved hymn Amazing Grace during bedtime prayers.

Merritt’s eyes lit up as I quoted the Book of Common Prayer: Grace is God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills. We talked more about grace: how nothing we can do will make God love us any more; how nothing we do will make God love us any less; and how baptism happens because of God’s grace. As we talked about Pentecost and – above all – about God’s love and God’s grace, I felt enveloped by the Holy Spirit. When Pentecost arrived, Merritt stood by the font and solemnly made her baptismal promises. And we all were embraced by God’s amazing grace as she was baptized, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked as Christ’s own forever!