Water Come Down: The Day You Were Baptized - Hardcover

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806637110 ISBN 13: 9780806637112

Publisher: Sparkhouse Family, 1999

Synopsis

Beautifully written by award-winning author Walter Wangerin Jr., this lyrical story introduces kids to the beauty, joy, and meaning of baptism. The perfect gift to make a child feel special– like part of the most wonderful family in the world. With a dedication page to commemorate a special occasion and a parent section to help impart their families' unique perspective on the meaning of joining God's family, Water Come Down is a wonderful introduction to the significance of baptism, its roots in the biblical story and its meaning for life today.

About this title

About the Author:

Walter Wangrin Jr. is an internationally known storyteller and the best-selling author of books for children and adults: The Bedtime Rhyme, In The Beginning There Was No Sky, and The Book of God. Illustrator: Gerardo Suzn is the winner of Mexico's most important graphics/illustration award, Premio Antoniorrobles, and has illustrated more than twenty books for children. He lives in Torreon, Mexico.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

I am the sun. I am fire and light. I'm the first one At the end of the night Who heard of your naming day.

God told me to whisper The news to my sister: A child will be named today.

God created everything: light and sky and water, sun and moon and stars, vegetable life and animal life---and us. Human beings.

It would have been fine. All would have been well between us and God and everything else; but sin entered in. Our sin separated us from God. It even grieved creation, as St. Paul says in Romans 8: 'The creations waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God . . . in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay.'

As in sin, so in grace: all creation is bound together. When God reaches down to love us and to adopt us by Baptism, creation itself rejoices in the 'revealing of the children of God.'

So I've written a story in which both God and creation delight in a particular child---in your child. And I've drawn upon the rich heritage of Scripture throughout. Each speaker of God's glad word (sun, cloud, rain, wind) also carries a sacred meaning. And the best person to reveal that meaning to your child is you.

On the following pages I have identified the Bible passages you may use to tell your child the 'rest of the story.' Read the biblical texts by yourself first, then share them with the child in your own words. Talk about their meaning for both of you, children of God through Baptism. Talk about your own experience with these two Baptisms---yours and the child's.

And here are ways to enhance the settings for your discussions.

--Bring out memorabilia of the child's Baptism: a baptismal gown, certificate, photographs. --Light a candle---a baptismal candle, if you have one. --Go outside to see and feel the sun, the wind, the rain---or to view a rainbow. --Plant a seed and let the child tend and water it. Together watch it come to new life from its 'grave' in the soil. --Visit your church after services to study the symbols and baptismal font. --And surely, attend Baptisms at church with your child.

God bless you and your child in this wonderful teaching! ---Walter Wangerin Jr.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sparkhouse Family
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0806637110
• ISBN 13: 9780806637112
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Gerardo Suzan