This Sunday, we will welcome a dozen individuals to the baptismal font, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What a joyful time to be a Christian, and to belong to ASD!

I just met with one of the candidates for baptism yesterday. He's a 10-year-old boy, and in my meeting with him, I was reminded of the entire point of the sacrament. I told him that before he's baptized, we'd ask him the question, "Why do you want to be baptized?" After talking it through with his parents, he said the answer he'd give us is, "I want to be in God's family!"

A truer answer couldn't be given, one that finds home in the regular reminder we hear from +Philip that "everything we do, we do in community."

Baptism is one of the most communal acts in the church's liturgy. In baptism, Jesus welcomes us into his family as individuals, but that which he welcomes us into – the church – is a community. Indeed, as my young friend reminded me, the church is a family.

Of course, this will be a special day for those folks being baptized, but it will also be a special day for you as well. It will be a reminder that, yes, you have a good Father, but that Father has other offspring, and you have siblings.

Sunday will be an adoption ceremony of sorts. And it's a Sunday you will not want to miss. We gather together not as a collection of individuals, but as brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray you can be there!