Easter Evening at Grace: a report from the future

Below is an article I submitted for the Grace Lutheran Church newsletter. It describes @LCMontheHILL's Easter evening worship where one of our students was baptized. Many thanks to our friends and partners in ministry at Grace and at Canterbury Colorado for being a part of that night.

This is a story about the future. It’s a story about the common future God holds for Grace and Lutheran Campus Ministry. 

+ + +

Psalm showed up at Grace in January. Despite his serendipitous name Psalm, a 22 year old Marine ROTC senior, did not grow up in the church. With graduation and deployment growing larger on the horizon, his investigation of the faith intensified. He did his research. After clicking through a litany of church websites and pages that described “What we believe,” Psalm showed up early one morning to plumb the depths of the book of Job with the people of Grace. 

Through his connection at Grace, Psalm plugged-in with the student group at LCM. Rooted both at Grace and LCM, Psalm soon told me that he wanted to be baptized. We set that holy process into motion, preparing for baptism on Easter evening. Corey, a student who happens to be a veteran of the war in Iraq, served as Psalm’s sponsor. The three of us met every week during Lent to do bible study and wrestle with the questions that emerge along the road that leads to the font. 

+ + +

Finally, Easter arrived. In our weekly meetings Psalm decided that he wished to be fully immersed at his baptism, that the symbols of that night should proclaim the complete way in which God would claim Psalm. So, on Sunday afternoon a garden hose snaked up the stairs and into the sanctuary at Grace where it filled a horse trough.  

It was only once the trough was full that I realized it was leaking. With time growing short, I siphoned the water back out and used an entire roll of duct tape to secure any seam or crevice or appearance of a puncture that might be the source of the leak before refilling the font. And it worked! With about thirty minutes to spare the font was full and holding water! 

Satisfied with my work I put my hand in the waters and it...was...freezing. The gathering students and I rushed to boil as much water as we could. Every coffee pot in the kitchen was called into service. Just before five o’clock, we dumped gallons of boiling water into the font and, still, the water was incredibly cold. 

Psalm was not deterred by the temperature of the water. When the time came he climbed into the font without complaint or shiver. The assembly, an amazing intergenerational congregation of God’s people, gathered around him and the font. A pair of two year old twins played in the waters, college students stood nervously awaiting their first experience with a full immersion baptism, while 95 year old Elbe Geer looked on discerningly. 

Just before Psalm went under for the first time, he took one last gasping breath. Then with great enthusiasm, he dove head first into the waters. It was at this point that I realized that while we had not succeeded in raising the temperature of the water, we were quite successful in increasing the volume of water. Waves of water crashed out of the font, splashing onto us all, each time Psalm was immersed. When we were finished there was water everywhere. It was beautiful. 

+ + +

With water still covering the sanctuary floor, we proceeded to the table and communion. To welcome the Risen Christ and Psalm to the community that bears his name we used a bottle of champagne. I’ve used it numerous times in the past. You pop the cork at the altar, everyone cheers, it truly communicates the celebratory nature of the day. But on Sunday I had some trouble opening the bottle. It took a little bit of nervous work. Finally, the cork popped and...the bottle erupted. There was champagne everywhere. The purificator I had used to catch the top was soaked. Enough remained for us to eat and drink at God’s table atop a floor that glistened from the overflowing waters of the font, champagne from the cup, and the new life God brought.

+ + +

This is an unlikely story. It’s not everyday that a student approaches me and asks to be baptized. It’s not every day that a student sees an advertisement for a bible study on the book of Job and risks a Sunday morning in a church basement. It’s a story about the remarkable, improbable, and yet overflowing life God is bringing at the intersection of our communities. 

It’s a story that could not have taken place without us coming together as one. I am convinced that God is calling Grace and LCM into an improbable future. After Sunday night I can report with certainty that I have seen this future, and it is drenched in water, champagne, and new life. May it be so. 

Peace,
Pastor Zach

PS - Check out more pictures here.