You see, in the gospel lesson that Denise just read for you - and this will follow you around for the rest of your life, trust me - we don't really know how to punctuate one or two of the sentences, and we don't really know what one of the pronouns refers to. That might seem like a minor point to you, seeing as how you don't even know how to talk yet, but believe you me, it makes a difference.

It is entirely possible that what our lesson says is:

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. [Full stop] He who believes in me, [Comma] as the scripture has said, [Comma] "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."

If this is correct, the message of the lesson is something like this: if you are in need of spiritual refreshment, believe in Jesus. If you do, your belief will give you all the spirit and all the life you will ever need.

Now, this is not a bad way of looking at things. It makes the development of your faith very simple: just keep believing in Jesus, and you'll do just fine. There are many many people who have done just that their entire lives. It seems pretty straightforward, doesn't it? You plug in the quarter of belief, and you get repaid with eternal life. It's what we might call a transactional theology.

There's only one problem: this doesn't match what we believe at all. See, Charlie, we are Protestant Christians. I know that's another big and scary word that I'm throwing at you, but again, trust me: you'll be hearing your daddy throwing around even bigger and even scarier words very soon. Just watch your mom. When she starts fidgeting, Daddy's gone overtime and you can tune out. It's a time-honored tradition.

In any case, we are Protestants. And one of the things it means to be a Protestant is that we don't think you can earn your way to be saved, by having a certain kind of belief or any other way. We think that being saved is entirely a matter of God's grace, meaning he gives it to you as a gift.

So the way we like to read this scripture is this:

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, [Comma] AND let the one who believes in me drink. [Period] As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.

That's better, anyway. It makes it seem like the thirsty people come to Jesus, and he gives them water, rather than they believe in him, and their belief creates water.

That fits our understanding of what happens when someone is saved better than the other way. We have a need, and Jesus fills it. He will take care of us physically - with honest-to-God water - and spiritually, with the "living water."

So when you get a little older, Charlie, we'll ask you to come back up here or at your daddy's church and say some things. And you'll hate it and you'll probably just mumble them so everyone stops looking at you and you can get on with the party afterwards. But what you're going to be saying adds up to basically this: I'm thirsty, God, and I need you. That's all it takes. God will do the rest.

But we are not quite done with this subject yet. (I'm sure you'll be sick of grammar by the time you're out of school, too.) You see, where we read, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water," that's just a tidied up version of the original language. What it really says is: "out of HIS BELLY shall flow..."

This happens sometimes. We sometimes don't know exactly what the original words mean, and so we just have to take our best guess at it. And where it says "out of the believer's heart"? That's somebody's best guess. The same word is often used for "heart" and "belly," and, well, it's really unclear who the "his" refers to.

I like to think that it refers to Jesus, though. For one thing, John tells us later on that Jesus' side was pierced while he was on the cross, "and at once blood and water came out". For another thing, it makes the point even stronger that salvation is a gift to us. Now we're thirsty and Jesus gives not only water, but water from himself, from his very heart, as it were.

And that, Charlie, is why I'm telling you all of this stuff about punctuation and grammar and whatnot. It's not because I'm a boring old dude who likes to talk about boring old stuff...okay, I really am. But in this case, it really makes a difference. There is an entire world out there that is going to try to tell you that you have to get It - whatever it may be - you have to get It for yourself. And if you don't get It for yourself, well, then, you are just a loser, a no-account nobody who no one ever needs to pay attention to again.

We don't believe that here. If we did, I wouldn't be up here getting ready to baptize you. If we did, your mommy and your daddy would not be bringing you for baptism, and your grandparents wouldn't have bothered to show up this morning.

What we believe, Charlie, is that God loves you very much, more than you will ever know, more than you can ever ask for or even imagine, and that now - right now - God is reaching out to slake your thirst even before you know you're thirsty.

Let me tell you how I know that, and why it's important. The last thing that we don't know exactly about this gospel lesson is what scripture it's quoting. It's similar but not identical to a lot of things. It could be a psalm, it might be from the book of Zechariah. But I'm hoping that it's from the book of Isaiah, the 44th chapter, where it says:

Thus says the Lord who made you,
  who formed you in the womb and will help you:
Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,
  Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
  and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my spirit upon your descendants,
  and my blessing on your offspring.

I want that to be true for you, Charlie. Oh, you don't know how much I want that to be true. And so I say to you on this great and glorious day: may you always make your mother proud, may you receive a double portion of the Holy Spirit, and may the waters of your baptism flow freely, compassionately, and directly from the heart of Jesus Christ to quench your every thirst. Because God loves you, so do your mommy and daddy, and so do we all. Amen.