大象传媒

On Saturday, I took my first baptism this year. For months we haven鈥檛 been allowed even to step foot in a church, so weddings and baptisms etc that I was supposed to conduct all sadly went by the board.听What a joy, then, to be asked to baptise 3-month-old Kaiya 鈥� and be able to say yes! It was a truly pandemic-era event: masks, gel and just six of us present, mum dad, me and three children鈥�including, of course baby Kaiya arrayed in a dazzling dress, a bow in her hair and her tiny innocent, beautiful face gazing back at you.

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However, we also needed godparents who joined us, socially distanced, via a laptop from the other side of London听and听the sunny island of Trinidad. Electronically, they brought readings, made vows and warmed the church with their huge smiles, blown kisses and words of love to all the family.听It鈥檚 not ideal to communicate over the internet but I reckon we did Kaiya proud. And I wondered whether we would have believed that a live international baptism could have occurred so effortlessly in that building when I first entered it twenty-odd years before.听It was a relatively brief affair 鈥� as I reckon most church services should be 鈥� but it felt great to be back in church, helping a family celebrate the precious gift of a child who delights their heart and embodies their hopes for the future.

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In the car on the way to the baptism I heard Kat Harbourne, co-presenter of the 大象传媒鈥檚 鈥楾he Naked Podcast鈥� talking about the death of her mother to Huntington鈥檚 Disease and her struggle with whether or not she has it too. With moving resolve, she said, 鈥業鈥檝e decided it is better to live a life in hope than to live in fear.鈥� 听With Kat鈥檚 comment ringing in my ears, when I gazed at Kaiya, I reflected that few things convey hope quite like a small child, which may be why Jesus implied that we all need to discover our inner child.

I think it鈥檚 pretty clear that life isn鈥檛 always easy or fair, but I look to little folk like Kaiya 鈥� and grownups like Kat 鈥� to help me approach the world with more hope, less apprehension.

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