When we receive a new infant, child, or adult into “the household of God” through the service of Holy Baptism, we celebrate a deep truth of creation: that we are all members of God’s family whom God welcomes home with open arms. Participating in this deep truth is what makes baptism one of the sacraments of the faith. Sacraments are windows through which God gives us the gift of viewing the true and eternal reality of God’s movement in creation. Sacraments take ordinary, everyday things – water and bread, for example – and use them to reveal extraordinary holiness hidden in plain sight.

When we baptize, the hidden is revealed for a moment, and we see the unconditional love of God embracing a soul who has never done a thing to earn that love. And we learn once again that we can do nothing to earn it either. We can only respond to God’s unconditional love in our lives. In baptism, we celebrate the beginning of this response. And we continue responding to God’s love as we live baptismal lives. The baptismal life is a sacramental life, a life in which each baptized person becomes one of those windows into the reality of God’s movement in creation. We participate in this reality by promising, with God’s help, to be supportive members of a community of faith, to practice reconciliation, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in word and deed, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to respect the dignity of every human being.

You are invited to take a moment and reflect on The Baptismal Covenant that follows on the this page to engage at a deeper level the thoughts in the previous paragraph.  

Please contact the parish office either via e-mail, office@christchurchmiddletown.org or call us at (732) 671- 2524 for more information on what it means to be baptized or to present someone for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.