Empty font for Lent?

I've never quite understood to motivation to empy the bapsimal fonts and holy water dishes during Lent. Don't we want the Elect to be confronted with the awe-filled power of the plunge they are about to take? Where is the conversion to be found in a dry hole?

So keep the fonts filled this year, and keep the challenge of baptism in front of the whole community—especially those who will be entering the water for the first time.

(For another look at the same issue, click here.)

Photo by Michael Wilson.