Baptised in a Punch Bowl…
General News – Thursday, April 10th, 2014
I hope this is not seen as a profanity or a endorsement for superfluous drinking in church… The reality was that we had someone who needed baptising but a bowl or font or anything to do it from.
The local Baptist church have a full immersion pool, the Anglican church a font attached to a stone plinth, not options for a cheeky borrow.
We were at a bit of a loss and with the group of Swiss confirmation students in London, things were getting desperate. I came across this rather good looking bowl in a store cupboard. The owner said we were welcome to use it but in its previous life it was has been a punch bowl, it had been on the shelf for years. Something about this seemed so right, its previous purpose did not get in the way of this bowl being front and centre of this celebration of Gods grace.
Yesterday it was used for baptism, we replaced hooch for holy water. It was a beautiful service in which Hanna was publicly baptised in front of her friends, a celebration of new life.
Hanna and the rest of the confirmation group finish their time in London on a Jack the Ripper tour in Shoreditch tomorrow night, we pray they will make it home safe