Baptism

Central to our faith is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. That’s what makes us Christians, after all. And what makes Christians unique is belief in the resurrection of the dead – passing through death into life. Entry into this community we call Christianity is a process that prefigures that passage, a process we call baptism. In the early church, and in some churches today, the person is literally dunked underwater and then brought up again, stark symbolism of dying and rising. In my church (and many others) that has been reduced to three splashes with water from a shell over a font that’s too small to dunk a newborn. Some parents are very happy that we don’t use total immersion with their child.

The church has always understood Israel’s passage through the Red Sea as a kind of prefiguring of baptism. The Israelites were fleeing from bondage in Egypt and God miraculously provided a route for them through the waters that blocked their way. The Red Sea crossing and forty years in the wilderness became the defining events in their development as a distinct people. In the baptismal rite, the Thanksgiving over the Water recalls those events, as well as the Spirit of God moving over the face of the waters at creation, and the baptism of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry.

Only in the first letter of Peter is Noah’s ark described as a prefiguring of baptism. [It was especially appropriate on this Sunday, when we welcomed a Noah into the household of God!] Peter’s symbolism is clear: the waters of chaos threatened to wipe out all humanity, but God saved Noah and his family by telling him to build an ark. I don’t want to press this story too far. For one thing, I’m not a biblical literalist, and for another, there’s the matter of all the people who died in the flood. It’s not helpful when so many have suffered recently in severe weather.

R’s favorite part of baptisms is the point at which she makes the sign on the cross on the newly baptized and says, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” I can see why she likes it. That’s the whole theology in a nutshell. Through the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit enters in and makes a home in that person. He or she is marked as Christ’s own forever. That’s why we baptize only once.

John’s Gospel tells us that once the Holy Spirit abides in us, the Spirit of truth will reveal the love of Jesus, and through Jesus the love of God. “You will know that I am in my Father,” Jesus says, “and you in me, and I in you.” God’s very essence is the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a relationship built on love.

Created in the image of God, we are fundamentally relational as well. That is why baptisms in the Episcopal Church take place at the principal service on Sunday morning. Baptism is the first step in joining the Christian community, so the community must be present to welcome the newly baptized. We also reaffirm our own baptismal vows, including the promise to “continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers” – in other words, to be faithful members of a Christian community – “with God’s help.” So whether we have a complete dunking or splashes with a shell, we symbolize our passage through death to new life in Christ. No wonder that in his darkest days, Martin Luther could console himself by shouting, "I am baptized!" For him and for us, it makes all the difference between life and death.

[Easter 6: Acts 17:22-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21.]