A moving story from Bruce Gillette

[9-27-04]

Erica Scanlon, Miss New Jersey, will be competing in the Miss America pageant on Saturday evening, September 18th. Many of her friends are planning to gather at her church, the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, NJ, to carpool to Atlantic City for the big evening. Plenty of Presbyterian prayers are being offered that the judges will agree with her church family that she is a remarkable woman who would be a wonderful Miss America, but I cannot help also remembering Erica's sister Jessica who is autistic. The baptism of these two sisters was the most grace-filled celebration of the sacrament that I have seen in my twenty years as a pastor.

When Erica and Jessica were born, their parents belonged to an independent church that did not practice infant baptism. A few years later their parents moved to Pitman, a small town in south Jersey that started out as a Methodist camp meeting (it is where "In the Garden" was first sung). Jim and Marilyn Scanlon decided to join the Presbyterian Church because it was the most welcoming for their young autistic daughter. The congregation has a proud history of welcoming those with special needs -- decades earlier, lay leaders Charlotte Graisbery and Robert Weir had been instrumental in working for special education in public schools and the founding of the ARC chapter in the county. It was not a coincidence that a group home for mentally retarded men was next to the church offices when the Scanlons joined the church.

Erica decided as a young teenager that she wanted to be baptized, a year before she normally would have been a part of the church's confirmation class. She and her parents wanted to have Jessica baptized at the same time. We did an independent study for her to be baptized and become a church member. Erica had many Baptist friends in the small town and asked if she could be baptized by immersion. While her pastors, Bruce and Carolyn Gillette, had been taught at Princeton Seminary to use plenty of water for this visible sacrament, their theological training had not included the use of water measured in many gallons. The local Baptist pastor, Jeffery Jones, was happy to offer this church to the Presbyterians for the celebration and even some training for the Presbyterian pastors. The three pastors and the whole Scanlon family met the day before and helped everyone (not just Jessica) feel comfortably prepared for the next day.

The Presbyterians had their usual worship service that summer Sunday in their own sanctuary, but at the end of the service there was not a benediction; instead an invitation was offered to walk down Broadway to the Baptist church for a continuation of the service. When the Presbyterians arrived at the Baptist church they discovered most of that congregation had elected to stay to see how the Presbyterians would do the baptisms in their sanctuary. The sacrament, sometimes a source of disagreement between Christians, was truly unifying that day.

What the people present will remember most about that day was not the two Presbyterian ministers who got soaked performing their pastoral duties, nor the baptism of Erica, the future Miss New Jersey (Miss America?), but the baptism of her sister Jessica. Jessica's autism is quite severe and she communicates rarely in words, more in sounds and some sign language. Once Jessica was in the baptistry with Pastor Carolyn Gillette, Carolyn asked Jessica to sign "help me." Jessica put her two hands together, one supporting the other, and lifted them together toward her chest, the traditional sign for "help" -- her sign for "help me." This is also the posture for those to be baptized. Carolyn held Jessica's hands and leaned her back into the water saying, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Jessica came up with a big smile on her wet face. The rest of the faces in the sanctuary were wet as well from the joyful tears of witnessing God's grace made visible. What a wonderful expression of the meaning of baptism: our help comes from God and baptism is a visible reminder of God's grace.

Both the Presbyterians and Baptists in Pitman have helped the Scanlon family over the years in their care for Jessica. Erica has been a key performer in the ecumenical Joy Clown Troupe based in the First Presbyterian Church that has visited many churches, hospitals and the Widener Memorial School for Handicapped Children where Jim Scanlon teaches. The Pitman congregation has hosted several benefit concerts by Erica and her friends to benefit families with members who are autistic, and autism research. Since winning the Miss New Jersey contest, Erica Scanlon has continued her work of promoting autism awareness. Erica told The Philadelphia Inquirer, "We take a lot of things for granted, but now I realize what a blessing they are. The person I am is because of her, and because of the way my parents raised her and at the same time always supported and encouraged me."

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Bruce and Carolyn Gillette will join their children in watching this special Miss America contest on Saturday evening. The Gillettes were the co-pastors of the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman for more than ten years. They recently started serving as co-pastors of the Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. Carolyn Gillette's hymn, "When Hands Reach Out," was partially inspired by Jessica Scanlon and her family.