A Ministry to Mark Milestones

In my last post I said would tell about an important ministry in the church designed about marking milestones in people’s lives.

Remember: milestones are those occasions in our lives where something important happens, often meaning a real “before” and “after.” These milestones might include events celebrated in the home; others in the congregation (or community as well). The Christian ministry of milestones takes place in the recognition and the ritual, keeping close the Christ connection: that we are “in Christ” even as we leave behind the old and face the new.

Who among us doesn’t recognize the importance of getting a driver’s license? It’s a teenager’s dream! Of course my beloved aunt found it pretty exciting at 65 years as well. Here’s a definite before and after. A real milestone filled with promise and responsibility. A Milestones Ministry recognizes this – deliberately.

If anyone that deserves credit for lifting up this element of baptismal spirituality, it’s The Youth and Family Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are at the center of exciting work to pass on the Christian faith especially within families and congregations. Check them out. They say:

A faith milestone is a marker along life’s journey that says, “This is something important and God is here, tool!” It’s time to pause, to share the joys and sorrows, to give and receive support.

As you might guess, some milestones are very public, such as high school graduation, and others more private, such as parents sending their child off to school for the very first time. So they may call for different kinds of celebrations, more public in the congregation or more private in the home. The Youth and Family Institute recognizes the differences, and it works with congregations to find their own pathway into this local ministry.

The opportunities to mark milestones are many. I know a congregation that for many years has given handmade quilts to its high school graduates on a special Sunday. I just served a congregation, Holmen Lutheran, that has been presenting the baptized with faithchests® to keep important mementoes and items for growing in faith through the years. Then there’s my personal experience: when I retired recently, my congregation celebrated, remembered, and did a Ritual for the Closure of a Ministry.

With Milestone Ministry, there’s a real sense of “before” and “after,” as I said, but in the words and the rituals, we realize there God is here too. Over the expanse of time, we truly we grow in faith and experience belonging to God.

“Remember Your Baptism”

  

So how do you “remember your baptism?” Start with the basics: recall the date when it took place. If you can’t remember that, dig out the baptismal certificate with that information. If you are unable to locate it, do a little talking within your family to learn of the church where it took place and write for the information.

 

Why should you do this? Because your baptismal day is that day when God spoke wonderful promises over you and God in Christ promised to be your God forever. Words spoken and water washed over you gave you this and more.

 

Some folks not only look up their baptismal date so they can carry it in their memory and heart; they may even frame the certificate and hang it on a wall in their home. They’ll ask family members for their stories of the day. They’ll pull out the old photo album and reminisce. For me June 11 is the date. My mother told me I was supposed to be baptized earlier along with two cousins, but to her disappointment, I was sick that day. So June 11 became “plan B.” Imagine my surprise when, many years later, my wife and discovered we were baptized on the same day, I in Wisconsin and she in Louisiana.

 

A Bible study group in my church is planning to use my book, Water for Your Soul, for their spiritual growth and conversation in the months ahead. As a prelude to that study they recently gathered. Each brought mementoes and told stories about their own baptism. For one it happened while her father was in the army during World War II. For another it involved the surprise of being baptized at a different church than she had assumed. Everyone had a story. Some had never talked about some of these matters of the heart and faith before. What a wonderful idea for sharing, a delightful and appropriate introduction to a book on baptismal spirituality.

 

So, back to the basics: Do you know when and where you were baptized? What can you learn about the day that will help you take the next step, which is the act of remembering your baptism as a spiritual meditating on the grace of God?