PASTOR’S COLUMN. At Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, a ten-year-old boy walked into Rev. Sarah Jo Sarchet’s office. “I’d like to be baptized,” he said. “We were learning about Jesus’ baptism in Sunday School. The teacher asked the class who had been baptized, and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too.”
“Cameron, do you really want to be baptized just because everyone else is?” the pastor asked. “No. I want to be baptized because it means I belong to God.”
Rev. Sarchet was impressed by his understanding. “Well, then, how about this Sunday?” The boy’s smile turned to concern. “You mean in front of all those people in the church? Can’t I just have a friend baptize me in the river?”
The pastor asked where he ever came up with such an idea. “Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in a river, wasn’t he?”
Caught off guard, she conceded. “You’re right, but if a friend baptized you in the river, how would the church recognize it?” And then to teach him about what Presbyterians believe about baptism, she climbed up on a footstool to reach her Presbyterian Book of Order on the top shelf.
But before she could reach the book, Cameron said, “I guess by my new way of living.” The pastor nearly fell off the footstool and left her Book of Order on the shelf. Cameron’s understanding was neither childish nor simple. It was profound. Baptism calls us to a new way of living. - DJ
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