Holy Smoke

Earlier today I was standing in the narthex of my church facing east into the sanctuary. I was wearing an alb as I was the thurifer for the service that would begin in about 15 minutes.

Just inside the glass doors to the sanctuary sits the baptismal font. Warm water had just been poured into the fount because a baptism was occurring at the upcoming service. Outside it was cool, probably around 50 degrees, and the wind was coming in through the open doorway. As the cool wind drifted across the surface of the warm water in the baptismal font, wisps of water vapor rose and danced across the water. Seeing this play between the water and the air, I smiled.

Why did I smile? Mainly because the sight of vapor lifting off of the water reminds me of a misconception I harbored when I was younger. In the evening, often after a summer afternoon shower, large columns of water vapor and dust would reach from the ground up to the clouds in the sky. Some people would have called these sunbeams, I suppose. As a child, I thought what I was seeing was the souls of departed folks being carried into heaven. To this day, whenever I see such a phenomenon in the sky, or see great amounts of water vapor evaporating into the ether, such as over Lake Michigan in the early light of day, I think back to my boyhood. I also think of my friends and relatives who have departed this life and who, I hope, have ascended on one of those sunbeams into the Kingdom of God.

It occurs to me now that the wind moving across the water in the baptismal font could also symbolize the movement of the Holy Spirit over the waters of creation. The priest would recall that event in the text of the Baptismal Prayer in the upcoming service. That's one of my favorite prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, and I look forward to baptisms mainly because I know I'll get to hear the beautiful text of that prayer.

And then, again, I will smile.