Oh could you do a Baptism?

With our superintendent minister on sabbatical I agreed to take three Sunday services to help out. This then morphed into 'oh could you do a baptism?'. So yes of course. There then followed the home visit as I don't think I have ever undertaken a  baptism without first seeing the family. So this past Sunday we received a child into the family of the Christian community, and hopefully in some small way, a  step on a  journey of faith. Who knows maybe she will become a Christian!!!

I kind of enjoyed myself leading the service. I think you do more when you no longer are on the treadmill of taking a service every week. Yet as I arrived at church and saw the Baptismal family and friends arriving all dressed up for  a celebration, it reinforced questions around how we make worship appropriate for those who rarely or never come to a place of worship. I just want them to feel at ease and hear a message thats relevant to their lives. I want the experience of worship to be a positive .

I always recall really trying hard to make a service very friendly for an unchurched family, only to be berated by a normally lovely woman, who complained about the choice of songs/hymns etc 'not suitable for the congregation'. While polite I did point out we had visitors who needed to feel welcomed, and as most Sundays she and others got their often boring hymn sandwich, she really couldn't complain. But she did. 

I recognise how over the years while seeking to be inclusive to some extent, and so annoying members of the normal congregation, you still collude with the status quo because you don't want to annoy them too much. Sitting as I do most Sundays now within the congregation I think while playing it safe as a worship leader, it is letting down folks who actually do, given the chance want to be challenged a little, and certainly want some life about worship that makes them feel refreshed for Christian living. 

I think some worship leaders unconsciously think it's about an outward appearance of being holy that counts. That somehow people should come to us and just accept what we do as being right. This seems to fly in the face of a God who  chose to become incarnate. Jesus was to be found everywhere and with everyone, and especially those on the edges of community life. He used the language of the everyday to tell stories, he made a point of listening to what others had to say, and used humour along the way. Oh how I crave for more humour and laughter in worship  that enables us to laugh at ourselves, to not come across as being 'holy', and be guided to discern where God is already at work in peoples lives and be able to go wow. And yes while its a tricky path to walk, we need to mention whats happening in the world, and grapple with what the issues are in the light of our understanding of Christian faith. It can't just be about some individualistic faith because for Jesus it was always about community, about what made society tick, abuse of power, the poverty of the many in the face of the wealth of the few. 

So when asked do a baptism it was always going to be about community, different communities interacting, the Sunday community and the mostly unchurched and the need to enable both to encounter God and each other. And only they can answer did they?