In The Book of Common Prayer, four feasts are listed as “especially appropriate” for the administration of baptism: the Easter Vigil, the Day of Pentecost, All Saints and the Baptism of our Lord.

In the Baptismal Covenant, we reaffirm the central tenets of our faith by promising to engage in five disciplines. We promise (1) to continue to come together as the church to be formed by prayer and fed by the sacraments, (2) to repent from our sins, (3) to proclaim in our lives what we profess with our lips, (4) to seek Christ in others, loving them as we love ourselves, and (5) to strive for that justice and peace, which the world cannot give—for all people, no matter who they may be.

That’s some tall order! But the wonderful thing about the Baptismal Covenant is that it is a touchstone of the Christian faith. When we are confused about what’s important in this world, what our priorities should be, how we should live, it is to this Covenant that we can turn, time and again, to re-center ourselves, to remind us of what it means to be a child of God, and what it means to teach others to be children of God, as well.

I would like to suggest to you that not only are we all children of God by virtue of our common baptism, but that by virtue of our Baptismal Covenant we are all godparents. Whether or not you have been asked to stand as a formal sponsor to a baptismal candidate, you are a godparent to everyone who is baptized into your parish family.

This is true because being a godparent has very little to do with sending gifts and cards on birthdays, Christmases and at confirmation. Rather, being a godparent entails the taking on of a spiritual responsibility. Let me tell you a little of my own experience as a godparent.

Before I was ordained, I served as lay chaplain to the Washington Episcopal School. As chaplain, I was responsible for teaching a weekly religion class to every level, from nursery through eighth grade. One of my sixth grade students was Julian Smith.

One day, Julian approached me after chapel and said, “Mr. Humphrey, I think I’d like to be baptized. And I want you to do it.”

This floored me. And of course, I wanted to baptize him right then and there. Two problems became immediately apparent, however: Julian had no formal parish affiliation, and I was not yet ordained. So I called the bishop, who instructed me to help Julian find a parish home. The bishop would not allow me to do the baptism, but I could stand as Julian’s godfather.

When Julian told his parents he wanted to be baptized, I think they were more than a little surprised, but they were proud that Julian had made up his own mind about his faith in claiming the Episcopal Church for himself.

When Anne and I married, Julian served as one of my groomsmen. The same year I began as curate at St. Paul’s, K Street, Julian entered his freshman year at GWU.  He attends St. Paul’s from time to time. But most meaningfully to me, when my daughter Margaret was baptized at the Easter Vigil three years ago, my own godson stood as godfather to my daughter. 

When I made my promises as Julian’s godfather, I had it pretty easy—Julian had already embraced for himself what I was also embracing for him. But the responsibilities of a godparent are the same whether the one baptized is an infant, a child, a teenager or an adult.

The Prayer Book summarizes these responsibilities in two questions: “Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?” and “Will you by your prayers and witness help this child to grow into the full stature of Christ?” To both of these questions, the parents and godparents answer, “I will, with God’s help.”

In the Baptismal Covenant, the responsibilities that the parents and godparents take on are then explicated in six questions, which consist of three rejections and three acceptances. Three times, parents and godparents (and candidates, like Julian, who can speak for themselves) are asked whether they renounce evil, and three times they are asked whether they accept Jesus Christ, each question nuancing and specifying what it means to say no to Satan and yes to God.

At every baptism, following these questions, the congregation is asked, “Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?” In other words, will everyone present support not only the candidate, but the candidate’s family and sponsors?  And guess what? Once you answer, “We will” you’ve all been co-opted. Recruited. Enlisted.  You have all become godparents.

You see, that’s the beauty of baptism in the Episcopal Church: that in the final analysis, we are all godparents; we all promise to support each other in our faith journeys.

Take a moment today to think of all the ways you can mediate God’s gift of joy and wonder to your children and godchildren, and to each other. We are all godparents and we can all, with God’s help, build a community filled with the same Spirit that descended upon Christ at his baptism.

May God, the parent of us all, give us grace to be faithful godparents today and always.

The Rev. Nathan J. A. Humphrey is curate at St. Paul’s, K Street.