In the way of the world

Submitted by Forrest Krummel, First Federated Church, Peoria, Illinois

When I arrived at the Federated church that I now serve the main font was pushed off to the side of the sanctuary. The first thing that I did was put it in the middle of the chancel area in front of the communion table as I had in previous churches. The font is a bit modern (it was a commissioned piece) and in the traditional architecture of the sanctuary, some people find it out of place. Usually, when someone tells me that, I merely respond that in our modern world, baptism is often out of place. The biggest complaint that I get, though, is that the font gets in the way during weddings. My general response is, “Good. Our baptism should get in the way of what we do because it reminds us that as Christians God gets in the way of living according to the rules of the world.”

“Baptism can be dangerous”

While serving the First Presbyterian Church in Burlington the font was a large marble font in three pieces — a bowl, a base and a connecting column. People had this desire to continually move it. Unfortunately, they usually thought that it was one solid piece. One day the column fell on someone’s foot and broke a toe. From there on out there was a little sign in the font that read, “Moving the font can be dangerous — people have been hurt.” I used that little sign as a children’s message in which I noted that baptism can be dangerous AND people have been hurt.” I also arranged for a monument company to make the three pieces into one solid piece so that its total weight was close to 1,000 pounds and thus, essentially unmovable.

Tell us your story so that we might share it with other congregations who could benefit from your experience.