So many wonderful images from the readings this weekend, but I was caught up in the family celebration of my great-nephew’s baptism. I was one of the lectors and was blessed to be able to read that wonderul passage from Isaiah: “The Lord called me from birth. From my mother’s womb he gave me my name.” That Evan was being baptized on this feast and that his name is the Welsh form of John just added to the significance.
My friend, the parish music director, commented wryly afterward, “That’s a lot of expectation to be putting on a small baby.” The Christian calling is a high expectation, and I was also struck by the fact that one of my godchildren is now little Evan’s godmother, while my nephew and his wife are godparents to her oldest daughter. I couldn’t help but be moved by the connections among us that are not only blood ties but also bonds in the Spirit.
I have to say that sitting behind the ambo during the gospel, looking at family from out of town in the pews, the line “all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea,” my thoughts were not on the wonders of God, but on how often in families even the smallest detail, especially if it’s in someone else’s life, gets talked to death by everyone else. The commitment of Zechariah and Elizabeth to name their child John in the face of family and community tradition and expectation is sometimes a special source of encouragement to those few in our family who have moved to a new geographical location—and perhaps to those who wish they could.
For a more focused reflection on the readings, let me refer you here. I have a baby to hold.
