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Good Morning. The Archbishop of Canterbury will temporarily leave the General Synod of the Church of England in York today to travel to Windsor to baptise Archie, son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Like all Royal occasions, security has to be taken into account so access to the Chapel will be limited to invited guests and church members including family, friends, Godparents and supporters. It is perhaps understandable that some sections of the media have interpreted this as a private event, because they believe the wider public should be entitled to share some part in the occasion too. But a request for the service to be limited to family and friends and to exclude the media does not mean that this is a private baptism - because, to be perfectly honest, there is really no such thing. When families ask me if they can have a private baptism I always explain that maybe we can have it at a different time to the main church service, but by its very nature, baptism is a public celebration of the start of a new faith journey. Unlike weddings and funerals, where families now have a greater choice in whether to have a religious service or not, baptism is unique, quite simply because there is nothing else like it. Baby showers often anticipate the birth of a child. But a baptism service encapsulates the sense of wonder, joy and deep gratitude that the birth of a new baby brings and is without parallel, anywhere else. That’s why, certainly in my own parish, families still come in search of a sacrament which confirms the most precious gift of a child. We then send the child out with a baptismal candle – a symbol of light in an often difficult and dark world. Until recently, the actual site of Jesus’ own baptism in the River Jordan was inaccessible because of land mines from relatively recent conflicts. But now the pilgrim site in the Jordan Valley is open again to everyone. Every day, thousands of Christians visit the place where Jesus presented himself to John the Baptist in the most public of ceremonies. According to Scripture John plunges Jesus into the water. And God speaks from a cloud. The crowds looked on. And today and every day, the unbaptised seek baptism in the same place. From my experience, a lot of people who attend baptism services, often still in great numbers, appreciate its meaning, whether or not they believe in God. It’s an opportunity to get together, give thanks and to hope for the future. But, above all, baptism is one of those few public rites of initiation which continue in our own day to speak of not travelling alone on our journey It’s a public display of love and support as a new life begins.