Friday, February 15, 2008

Friday Five: The Water and the Word

In this Sunday's gospel Nicodemus asks Jesus, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Poor old Nicodemus! He was so confused about the whole "water and Spirit" business of baptism.

For today's five, tell us about your baptismal experiences.
  1. When and where were you baptized? June 30, 1975, just 7 days after I was born. Do you remember it? Nope Know any interesting tidbits? My parents had gotten married about 10 months earlier, so I was close to being a honeymoon baby, but wasn't. So I was the only one of my siblings that was baptized during a Sunday morning service. Dad wanted to make sure the congregation knew I was conceived while my parents were married and they were not married because of me.
  2. What's the most unexpected thing you've ever witnessed at a baptism? I am a godparent for a child whose parents are (if I remember right) are both Catholic. I, being Lutheran, was asked to be a sponsor. I agreed but found it strange that I could be a sponsor and since I could not afford to or physically be able to travel to DC for the baptism (I was pregnant with my 1st at the time) could still be considered as a sponsor. Well, I am a sponsor.
  3. Does your congregation have any special traditions surrounding baptisms? Lighting the baptismal candle is about the only one I can think of.
  4. Are you a godparent or baptismal sponsor? Yes, I have 3 kiddos I am sponsor. E that lives now in Europe, and both my husband and I are sponsors to our best friend's kiddo T and our niece A. Have a story to tell? At the baptism of our niece I got very, very sick. There is only one photo of me with the group, I headed back to where we were staying afterwards and crashed. I think everyone thought I was pregnant, not the case. There was a flu bug that was being passed on from about 4-5 people in our group and I was the 2-3 person to get it. That weekend, there was such an awful snowstorm that I ended up coming home with my son a day later. It was quite a strange weekend. Glad I went, just wish I wasn't so sick.
  5. Do you have a favorite baptismal song or hymn? Gather us in. I sang it one baptism and think it fits for so many occasions. I love the song!

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