How a Garden Hose Saved a Baptism

One January Sunday morning a few years ago (my first at Sardis), we were scheduled to have a baptism. And while all baptisms are different, there is generally one requirement that supersedes all others: a source of water.

During the week, I readied the meetinghouse, and on Friday, I filled up the baptismal to ensure it had plenty of time to warm up for Sunday morning. Feeling confident we were all set for our service, I went home to enjoy the weekend. At 8:00 am on Sunday morning I got a frantic call from Jonathan, who was scheduled to perform the baptism. “Bob, why is the baptismal empty? Didn’t you fill it up?!?”

Turns out a fuse blew, and caused the baptismal to not only drain, but also prevented it from re-filling. And now we had less than two hours to fill a 300-gallon tub. Not to mention warm it.

Jonathan opened the back door of the church and proceeded to roll in a green garden hose. We turned on the water. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about ten minutes, we were finally making headway, and the water was ankle deep. But it was cold. Too cold!

You can’t keep secrets in our little church. As Jonathan and I fiddled with the hose, and Jonathan steeled himself for his first “Polar Bear Plunge,” the people of Sardis ministered to us. They pulled out every pot, pan, and tea kettle in the church, and began to boil water on the stovetop. And an all-points bulletin was sent out to church families, and twenty minutes later two people showed up with Igloo coolers full of boiling water. Over the next hour, at least 50 gallons of boiling water were added to the pool of freezing hose water.

It would be a stretch to say we made that water tepid. But it was bearable. And Jonathan and Will had chattering teeth and shivering knees the whole time. But it was a successful morning.

Here’s what I love about this community. There was never any thought of a reschedule. And there was nobody who said, “Well have you ever?” Everyone just jumped in and got to work.

And it seems to me that Sunday was just the way the waters of baptism should work — the waters remind us of all the people who walk the journey with us. And the waters give us the warmth we need in a world that can sometimes seem too cold. And the waters don’t promise order. In fact, they tell us there’s a messiness to this new life. But what a world it can be with a little water, and a tea kettle, and friends to share it with. And a God who draws all things together.

And just in case you are wondering, we fixed the baptismal. But take heart, the waters never break.