The Baptism of a Couple's Baby Today...And The Couple Just Happen to be Two Moms

Today at United Church of Chapel Hill (UCC), there was a wonderful baptism this morning. What was wonderful was the normality of the baptism, which is a beautiful, powerful, audacious sacrament of the Church. What made it special, for me, was that the baby, who was incredibly precocious and charmed the members of the church...and the couple who were having their baby baptized. You see: the couple are two lesbian moms. But no one made mention of that fact, which is great!

I have heard of other churches among Protestant, the Catholic, and Orthodox churches who have denied moms and dads who are lesbian or gay parents Eucharist or a place around the Lord's Supper, let alone being baptized or having our children baptized. The denial of either sacrament to a person because of one's sexual orientation or expression is a sin...of a systemic kind. In other words, the entire system is sinful and unjust.

While I know there are same-sex blessings and unions and marriages (Massachusetts), our blessings and unions are usually done in secret without an announcement in the following Sunday's bulletin.

I am glad that this couple had their beautiful child baptized, both for the sake of the child, who will grow up in a church community who love and will nurture her, along with the parents, and the extended family and friends. "It takes a village," a community of faith to raise a child, as much as it takes a child--the Christ child in this case--to create a community of the faithful.

Peace,

Brett