There is a story about a little boy who asked his mother where he came from and also where she had come from as a baby. His mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered bird, the stork. The boy asked his grandmother the same question and received a variation on the bird story. Later that day he said to a friend, "You know, there hasn't been a normal birth in our family for three generations." What our children know and what we think they know can often be two different things, especially with children these days. We want the best for our children and initiating them into Christ’s church through Baptism is an important milestone in their lives. few weeks ago we read the scripture passage at our church that told of the baptism of Jesus. Jesus’ baptism is a major episode showing Jesus to be God’s son. A number of questions come out of the passage: why did Jesus get baptized if he was sinless; why do we get baptized; and finally, what does Baptism do?

The short answer to why Jesus was baptized is that he showed us the way. At his baptism, Jesus marked his life, his ministry, his humanity in the Jordan River with the people watch- ing. By getting baptized, Jesus not only offered an example, as in says in Matthew 3:15, “he became and fulfilled all righteousness”. The answer to the second question, why do we get baptized, is simply that as Christians we are called to follow Jesus and that means following him through the waters of baptism.

The answer to the third question, what does Baptism do, is both straightforward and misunderstood. There are many misconceptions about what Baptism does: it’s not a lucky charm; it’s not a get into heaven card and it’s not a magical holy hand waving exercise. Baptism, simply put, washes away our sins. I have found that many people ask me when a child is baptized how can we talk about washing away sins when the child is innocent and has not done anything wrong. The answer is that they have the potential to sin in them – and they will eventually sin as everyone does.

I have found also in my time in this calling many people’s aversion to talk about sin.

I remember not so long ago speaking with someone who said friends of theirs would not come to church because the word “sin” was used in the service. They felt that the word was used in general too often and that it was the church’s way of keeping people feeling guilty and therefore kept them coming to church to appease their guilt. That means that they don’t actually understand what we believe.

Baptism is a covenant based on the promises God has made to us in Jesus Christ. God is trustworthy and sticks to these promises though we fail in our responsibilities. It is also the gift of the Spirit's presence. We hear in the reading from Acts 8:14-17 that though the people of Samaria were baptized there was no sign of the spirit. Peter and John came down and laid hands upon them and the spirit’s presence was made known. The fruit of spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol (Galatians 5:22- 23); when we see these we see the church in action. We come to church not because of guilt, but to be fed so we can continue in the work of the spirit.

Finally, Baptism begins a journey. Learning the difference between right and wrong is something we want our children to understand from the earliest age. It is said by about the age of 7 or 8 children start to understand the difference of right and wrong.

In John 13:35 we hear Jesus say, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Children will take in more by what they see, than what by we tell them. We probably already know that; we probably already know that we have to instill in them the values and beliefs of our faith in them at a young age. But I think that what we can sometimes forget is that baptism is the beginning of the journey and not the destination. Baptism begins the journey as we learn the faith, live the faith guided by the Holy Spirit and pass it on to our children and the up and coming generations.

As Christians we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, who though sinless, showed us the way, and although we don’t always hold up our side of the covenant, God’s grace and God’s spirit reign in our lives. May we live with God’s grace in our lives through the waters of baptism and help our children to learn of our faith and live it themselves.