Shall We Gather at the River?

In the spirit of that old-time gospel tune, our St. Augustine's church community here in Nashville does indeed choose to literally gather at a local river each spring to baptize and celebrate all of the babies born into the church community over the course of the preceding year, and our sweet James got to join in this time around!  Though St. A's is an Episcopal chapel, it strays from staid tradition in various ways, not the least of which is its annual spring river baptism.  No polite sprinkling here, folks; rather, our priests wade out into a river and dunk a series of babies (clothed in an array of beautiful white garments) in the flowing, generally chilly water.  It is absolutely wonderful, and very John-the-Baptist feeling:)

We were particularly excited when we learned that James' baptism would happen at the very same farm in the very same river where his big sister Evelyn was baptized a mere three years ago; since the event does not happen at the same place every year, that made it extra special for all of us.  So on the morning of Sunday, May 18, 2014, we loaded up our car with quilts, baptismal garments, potluck contributions, and bugspray, and drove out Old Hillsboro Road to Pontotoc Farm....

After parking and unloading, we dressed James in his baptismal garments, watched Evelyn do some quick gymnastic exercises with D and Mac, and then headed up to the barn to spread out our quilts and join the crowd:

Four grandparents, a great-aunt, two godparents, an uncle, and two dear friends joined us and our church community for the celebration--what a blessing!

After prayers, Scripture, hymns, and liturgy (during which the parents and godparents of the couple dozen (!) babies being baptized crowded together in front and read aloud prayers that we wrote for our little ones), the entire congregation broke bread together and then headed down a short path to the banks of the Harpeth River, following behind a band of musicians singing gospel tunes.  Our priests headed down a steep flight of steps and waded out into the river, each family followed suit, one by one, and then it was our turn to take the plunge:

Our precious James did great!  He and his daddy fully submerged in that chilly water, so he is really baptized now:)  And after all the babies were sufficiently dunked and dried off and warmed up and changed into dry clothes, we trooped back to the barn, where a huge potluck lunch spread was waiting for us.  We feasted, lounged on quilts and chairs, snuggled, chatted, laughed, opened baptism gifts, and even found a tractor to sit on:

What a glorious day!  We are so thankful for the gift of James, and humbled that we got to witness his baptism while surrounded by such wonderful family, friends, and church community.  Thanks be to God!