a meditation on carrying hot water

Participating yields connection.

Yesterday, I helped at a baptism. At the church, the baptismal font was a large cylinder . At a cut out, the cylinder spilled into a lower tank area on floor level. The water was very cool. Someone wisely decided to that the water was too cold for an immersion baptism.

So the father of the baby and the priest took buckets of the cold water out. Six to be precise. Then they started bringing buckets of hot water back in. I volunteered to help. “Sure, you can do that.” So I went to the hot water spigot with my bucket and brought in three more buckets of hot water. That combined with the cold and the baptism water was now warm. Perfect. The immersion went off swimmingly, so to speak.

Afterward, I reflected on the experience and realized I felt connected to the ceremony. Probably, I suppose, because I had some small part in it. For me to be connected, I need to participate. Is it the same for you?

Perhaps you’ve felt connected through participation, too. Perhaps on the athletic field or in a classroom setting, either through asking questions on in a study group, perhaps even in taking notes and reviewing them. In that way, we become part of what’s going on, and we have a little more connection to it.

I stopped at Oak View Mall and noted outside the doors on the are some tables with papers on them. People can write messages of condolence or of hope. Many were making snowflakes with no comment at all. They just wanted to make something that said, “Hey, I was here and I’m here for you.” Windows and doorways are plastered with this participation.

Our lives are full of opportunities for participation, and our lives are all the more full for having done so. When you participate, you make a difference. Everyone can do this.

Luke 8:1
Soon afterwards he went o through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women….”

“Thank you” for taking classes, “thank you” for learning, and “thank you” for being part of the emerging UNO community.