This summer one of my mission teams was working in Springfield, OR. We were asked to help move some items out of the St. Paul Center, a United Methodist church that was closing.
When a church closes they have to remove all their “stuff” from the building as the conference prepares it for sale. Some items are taken by members of the congregation. Others are easy to give away or sell; tables, chairs, dishes etc. There are lots of organizations that can use those kinds of things. There are other items that are not so easy to give away, like a baptismal font. Most churches already have one of their own. Who else would want such a thing? As our group was loading furniture and boxes into a moving truck the pastor at St. Paul Center asked if the Sellwood Faith Community had a baptismal font. That was something we never had thought about. We didn’t have one, so we loaded this very heavy hand made baptismal font into my van and brought it home to Portland. We will soon have our very first baptism and thanks to the folks of St. Paul Center we now have a beautiful font for this special celebration.
This gift of a font reminds me that we are not starting something new here in Sellwood from scratch but we are a continuation in a long line of faithful people. Whether it be the chairs that we sit in every Sunday and Thursday evening that came from the Sellwood United Methodist Church or this new baptismal font, there are things that are a part of our fellowship that come from other communities. It is a tangible reminder that our faith itself is a legacy of what has been handed down to us from others throughout our lives. We reaffirm this in our baptism ritual, when we voice that the newly baptized person is joining the long line of the faithful church that has continued sharing God’s story and proclaiming new life. God works through all of the people who came before to make something new now.
As we continue to build something new here in Sellwood, I am so thankful for the legacy of faith and love that frames and inspires our work.
-Jeff
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| actual font not pictured |
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