I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. -Matthew 21: 21-22

Hot Tub Baptism

One man remembered Travis from another church
some years back, where one night in a prayer frenzy
folks had laid hands on the boy’s twisted limbs,

cried Hallelujah and pushed him out
his wheelchair to stumble his first step.
While we were eating dinner before the baptism,

the story made its way down the potluck line
like a parable of another church’s arrogance
in an unbelieving generation, testing the power of God.

Later, we stood under a full moon around the hot tub
singing grace and glory, hands in our pockets,
as crisp brown leaves and grit blew at our faces.

Two college boys shouldered Travis,
knee-deep into the water, his frailty balanced there
as they asked him whether Jesus was his lord.

When he said yes they lowered him
as careful as an infant in a bath,
sure to submerge every part for cleansing.

His was a baptism of chlorine and bits of leaves,
a momentary submersion into heat,
a gasp as he emerged shocked and shivering.

We could not help but picture him falling
when they’d pushed him, extending his unreliable
thin legs like he was the lowered cripple

who Jesus told to take up his mat and walk.
We imagined Travis looked up from the floor
and smiled upon this failure of faith.

After the baptism we wrapped his wet body in blankets,
bore him to his chair and pushed him inside
the meeting hall where we all stood in line to squeeze
his shoulders, unable to fully draw him in our arms.