community

Every. single. time. I see someone get baptized at church, I get emotional.

Kids being baptized by their parents? Tears.

Old people being baptized? Gets me choked up.

Someone my age, being baptized by a spouse? Stop it.

But here’s what gets the water works flowing faster than anything else: watching as someone steps into the water and then people, lots of people, from all areas of the sanctuary, step forward to surround them in prayer before the baptism.

Seeing families come down from the balcony, kids coming in the doors from Sunday school classes, random people from every corner of the room, converging on and surrounding this one person, to listen a confession, witness the immersion in water, and to see this person at the very moment a new life starts.

For me, in that moment, it’s not just about the baptism.

Not that it’s not important, obviously, but what gets to my heart so quickly is the community. The love that some of those people are surrounded by as they decide to follow Christ.

And I think it’s because, right now, for our family, we are lacking in community.

Having kids exhausted us and we made excuses and suddenly it’s been almost five years and we haven’t been truly invested in living life with a specific, like-minded group of people in a long time.

And when I see someone baptized and I see how big their community is, I realize what I’m missing and how big that hole has gotten. And for the past year (maybe more?), we’ve been talking about joining a small group, about living in community, about being real with others, and raising our kids with a specific group of people.

And today, we’re finally doing that. Tonight we’ll officially be in community again.

I can’t wait.