This children’s homily is a reprise posted first in June of 2020. On the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, it fits right in!

Good morning, my younger Emmanuel friends! First things first! Before you listen to my homily, go get a cold cup of water from your kitchen. (With your parent’s permission, of course!) I will wait while you go get one.

Waiting…..

Got it! Great! You can sip on that cool cup of water while you listen. So, let’s begin.

Gospels in the Bible are the stories of Jesus. Today we listened to Matthew’s gospel and he tells us that anyone “who gives a cup of water to a little one” will be a friend of Jesus. A disciple.

Water is important for all living things. Every little cell in your body is made up mostly of water! Plants drink water. Birds drink water. Bugs drink water. Fish live in water. All God’s creatures need life giving water.

And of, course, all of God’s human children rely on water too! We are blessed, because we just need to go the kitchen sink or the backyard hose, and turn them on to get water gushing out! But safe clean water for all of God’s children is not quite as easy to find.

Some of God’s children have to go to a river to get their water.

Some of God’s children pump their water from an old fashion water well.

Some of God’s children don’t have refrigerators and they store and drink their water from clay jars.

Some of God’s children have to carry the water to where they live – if the water is far away and not nearby their homes.

Some of us are very lucky and get to drink cold water with ice!

Jesus’ disciples, Jesus’ friends want to make sure that all of God’s children all across the world have access to cool, clear and clean water.

All of God’s children deserve cool, clear and clean water.

And there is another kind of water, too. Holy water. Blessed water, that got poured on your little heads when you were baptized. We don’t drink this water!! But sometimes babies like to splash their hands in it at the fount. This water is a sign of God’s love raining down into our lives. It reminds us that we are all children of God and members of God’s great big world-wide family.It is a joyous and happy occasion, the day you were baptized!

Here is picture of a baptism your parents might remember! Do you recognize the Schildge family? Little Louisa Hope was baptized at Emmanuel’s Blessing of the Bicycles two years ago! Big brother Theo and Big Sister CeCe rode down the aisle on their bikes! And then afterwards in the parish hall, Chuck and I sprinkled water and “baptized” all of the bikes!

Ask your mom or dad if they could show you a picture of your baptism and tell you the story of that very special day!

And when I get to see you again, I want you to tell me all about it! (Maybe at Zoom coffee hour!)

Thanks for listening! Much love!

Joani

NOTE: And if you want to learn more about water, check out this book!

Spirituality The Episcopal Church Children's Homily Clergy Ordinary Time Podcast The Rev. Joan L. Peacock