Extraordinary Water

There is a rather ordinary looking bowl of water right at the entrance to St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church’s sanctuary that offers the extraordinary.  This week in the church we are celebrating the Baptism of Jesus and are offering the Sacrament of Baptism.  Ordinary water cleans, refreshes, and hydrates.  Baptism asks God to do the extraordinary: to clean our spirits of doubt and fear, to refresh our confidence in God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us, and to energize us to treat all whom we meet with the same radical love, acceptance, and hospitality that God has for us.  The ordinary bowl is the reminder, each time we enter and leave the sanctuary, of all that God has done and continues to do for us and a refresher as we strive to love our neighbor and ourselves.  All are welcome to dip their fingers in the bowl, make the sign of the cross, remember their Baptism, and be refreshed for ministry.