A Word from Pastor Nathan

A grammatical issue has made headlines in recent weeks. A Catholic priest in Phoenix used the words, “We baptize you…” instead of “I baptize you…” As a result, the Catholic Church has invalidated thousands of baptisms. Since this news came to light, another parish in Troy, Michigan, has come under scrutiny for the same reason. Even a priest had his own baptism and sacraments invalidated. He had to be baptized and ordained again. Such news doesn’t bode well for the Church, catholic and protestant.

When I interviewed in-person with the search committee at Washington Avenue and said “y’all,” one person remarked, to the best of my memory, “Oh! He said ‘y’all!’ That’s so cute.” Since we’ve shared in mutual ministry, you have indulged my “y’all” translations of the second person plural pronoun in scripture. One person even decorated the display board in the main hallway with the word “y’all” shortly after my arrival.

I remember the first time I read “y’all” instead of you (singular) in the gospel of John. “I am the vine,” Jesus says, “y’all are the branches.” That switch in pronouns shifted how I read and interpret scripture and made me curious about how often the second person plural (y’all) is used compared to the second person singular (you). A conservative guesstimate is 90% of the appearances are plural over the singular. “For I know the plans I have for y’all,” the prophet says in Jeremiah 29:11. In Psalm 116, the poet writes, “Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Holy One has dealt bountifully with you” (second person, singular, feminine, in the Hebrew). For what it’s worth, never ever in scripture is Jesus said to have died for individuals but for the world (Gk: cosmos).

The administering of the sacraments, of which baptism is part, is the work of the whole church; that’s us. I could take any number of people into our baptistry—or the Black River,

if we wanted to go old school—and immerse them in water, but that wouldn’t seem like a baptism without the congregation being present. Yes, I am the one with the person in the water, but baptism is the work of God in communion with the whole church, and that requires… y’all.