Many years ago, the Infant Baptismal Font was located just to the north of the western entrance at St. Mary’s Anglican Church, now the Pro-Cathedral of St. Mary. At present, it stands just up the steps at the northern door.
No one in Anguilla appears to know the reason for the font being positioned at the entrance at St. Mary’s, St. Augustine’s and St. Andrew’s – and probably at other Anglican Churches elsewhere. This was known only after the Rt. Rev. Errol Brooks, Bishop of the Diocese of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba, gave the reason.
The Bishop was at the time administering the Sacrament of Holy Baptism to a baby girl in the presence of her parents, god parents and the congregation at the Pro-Cathedral on Sunday, October 3, 2021. The appropriate Gospel reading, delivered by him, was: “Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”
He continued: “I am sure that, as children, many of us received religious books depicting Jesus as meek and mild, sitting on the hillside, with flowers in bloom, birds singing and little children gathered around him – leaning on his shoulders and on his knees, captivated by the stories he told them.
“From such scenes, I described just now, one would get the impression that children were always around Jesus, but that is not an accurate picture of the way things were in the first century. The account that we have in St. Mark’s Gospel…is a more accurate description of the way it was.
“People would bring their children to Jesus in order that he might touch them and the disciples spoke sternly to them. You see children did not have any status in that society. They were considered non-persons. It was not until a child reached adulthood that that child was considered a person or taken seriously…There was nothing known as adolescence. When you reached puberty, you entered the adult world. I am sure many of us in this congregation would have heard, and probably said it too, that ‘children must be seen and not heard’ especially when in adult company. That was the rule.”
Bishop Brooks pointed out that, when children were taken to Jesus and the disciples rebuked those who took them, the disciples were merely reflecting the attitude of people in the ancient world about children.
He further stated: “When Jesus, in turn, rebuked the disciples, and said let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs, he was upsetting the status quo…For the first time, then, children were seen to be of importance as children and not as potential adults. My brothers and sisters, the reason this passage is here, in St. Mark’s Gospel, is to remind us that children are persons of worth. They are precious in the sight of God and therefore must be included in the church.”
He went on: “Baptism is the gateway or the entrance to the church. That’s why, in most churches, the font, the receptacle that holds the water for baptism, is placed at the door – and this is symbolic of entering into the family of God. Tell me something: when your children are born, do you say to them: ‘you will [have to] wait until you get older – 12, 15, 16 or 20 years to be part of this family?’ No, you don’t. Even before the child comes into the world you [should] be looking forward with eagerness to welcome that child into the family. I am saying to you that any such baptism will become part of the family of Christ and the church. Jesus said: ‘Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them.’ The church said: ‘We will baptise our children and receive them into the communion of faith and we will teach them the faith.’
“That is how it should be. That is why we have Sunday School, the Youth Group, and that sort of thing, and yet it is so hard to encourage adults to share in the teaching of the faith.”
