a sacrament with skin on

My parents, my aunt (holding me) and my uncle, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, June 1979.

This morning I had a conversation with the bishop about serving on a synod committee.  Walked into the synod office across the street from Emmanuel Hospital, and sitting just inside the door of the lobby was a marble baptismal font that looked awfully familiar.  I asked the nice synod employee who greeted me, and sure enough, it came from Bethlehem Lutheran Church, a Portland congregation that sold its building and became itinerant a few years ago.  I was baptized in that font!

I was touched to learn the synod has preserved this beautiful piece of art where so many infants (and older people, including my father) have been welcomed into the family of God.  We know that the combination of Word + water is what makes baptism a sacrament and not just a cultural practice, but just as people of faith can be Jesus "with skin on" to others, so too do the artifacts of our faith add weight and heft to our sacred experiences.