The picture above is Detrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian that Katie Day described as one of her angels this past Saturday at the Affirmation of Baptism Festival.

Since Saturday have you thought about who your angels might be? Who in your life or in history, reminds you what it means to be a baptized child of God?

Thanks to everyone for a great day this past Saturday at Philadelphia Seminary! Please feel free to comment below, let us know about your experience, tell us what from Saturday has you still thinking.

How do the waters of baptism bring us closer to Christians throughout the world?

Do you ever think about the connection we have to Christians all around the world?

How can we be more responisible in our use of water?

To overcome pollution?

To be mindful of people who can hardly afford the luxury of clean drinking water?

What does all this have to do with your baptism?

Just one more week until the Affirmation of Baptism Festival at Philadelphia Seminary! The seminarians who will be part of this event with you met last night, and I think it’s safe to say, left excited about the experience ahead of us all. Throughout the rest of this week we will be adding questions to this blog to give you a little insight into what we’ll be about on Saturday. For today….

Why do you think water is what we use for baptism?

Couldn’t we use something more glamorus, something not so common and ordinary?

Well it’s been about a week, but we just wrapped up a great Affirmation of Baptism Festival here at Gettysburg Seminary. 17 scholars were with us, in conversation with seminarians and faculty about what it means to be a baptized child of God. For those who were with us, hopefully you’re still thinking over your experiences of last Saturday. Here’s a couple of pictures from the day…we’ll get more up in the next few days. After the pictures you’ll find a question to ponder…..

Which of the practices we explored on Saturday could you see yourself using regularly in daily devotion?

What has happened since last Saturday that caused you to reflect back about your baptism?

Just two more days until the Affirmation of Baptism Festival. As you can see we’re working hard to get ready for our day of worship and discovery. Here’s something else to think over on your way here….

In the 1st chapter of Mark, and the 3rd chapter of Matthew, we get the story of Jesus’ baptism. What do you think about that? What does it say about baptism that Jesus was baptised?

We’ve just got three days until we get together at Gettysburg Seminary for the Affirmation of Baptism Festival! This past Sunday night, the group of seminarians who will be there got together to dream and plan for the day. We all left incredibly excited to get back together with you all on Saturday.

Here’s some more questions to keep you thinking on your way to Saturday……

What do you have enough of?

What don’t you have enough of?

How do we know what is enough?

Here’s a new question for the day…

How do you rest & relax? When do you know that you need to rest & relax? How might God be active in your rest & relaxation? 

We’ve still got a little room left in the Affirmation of Baptism Festival @ Gettysburg Seminary, and we can take registrations through tomorrow morning, so go here and register.

For those signed up for the Affirmation of Baptism Festival @ Philadelphia, we will start having questions for you here on the Blog after our event at Gettysburg. Interested in coming to the Festival @ Philadelphia Seminary? Go here to get signed up.

On Saturday, October 25th, we will be getting together with a group of 9th graders from congregations around the area for the Affirmation of Baptism Festival. We will worship, meet new friends, and explore all of the incredible gifts that come to us in the waters of baptism. For those signed up for the Festival, we are really excited about having all of you over here at Gettysburg Seminary! For those not signed up, we have a few spots left, and can take folks through the end of the week. Go here for registration.

For those signed up for the event, over the next week we will be posting questions, reflections, and information about the Festival here. Go ahead and jump in the conversation, post comments here, talk about the questions wiith other folks from your congregation who are coming. To start us off, here’s a few questions to mull over:

During your day to day activity (school, sports, friends, etc.) what things remind you the most about your baptism?

Can you recently remember being reminded of your baptism? Were any of these times outside of youth group, worship, or other church activities?

If you are on Facebook, you can also join the Affirmation of Baptism Festival Facebook Group by going here. Check back in another couple of days for more questions and more information to get us ready for our time together at the Affirmation of Baptism Festival!