January 9, 2010

• Life Preserver

  Next Saturday there will be a class for those considering membership in Safe Harbour MCC.  We will review the history of our denomination and the history of Safe Harbour MCC.  We will review the requirements for membership which include baptism.  And we will discuss what it means to be a member of this church.  For those who have not been baptized, we will offer baptism during the service of reception of new members.  I think it is valuable for us to consider what it means to each of us to be a baptized Christian.  Many of us were baptized as infants at the direction of our parents.

   

  Baptism in an interesting ritual within the Christian church.  The Christian church points to the baptism of Jesus as its source for the tradition of baptism but there seems to have been controversy even in the early church about who needed baptism and what baptism should look like.  John the Baptist was practicing an ancient rite of purification when Jesus came to him in the river.  The Jews were familiar with water purification to change a person from unclean to clean.  Jewish households would have large jars of water for purification purposes.  It is my understanding that the jars at the wedding feast in Canaan that Jesus turned into wine were for the purpose of purification.  John states that Jesus has no need to be baptized or purified but Jesus insists.  Clearly Jesus was not in need of purification.  The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his earthly ministry.  Despite Jesus saying it was important he be baptized there is no record of Jesus ever baptizing anyone with water.  John states he purifies with water but Jesus will purify with spirit.  The early church debated the need for water baptism from the very beginning.  It appears it was believed that Jews needed water baptism to symbolize their purification from bondage under the law.  Once baptized, they would be under God’s grace rather than law and would never again need water purification.  Gentiles, who would not have been under law, were not expected to receive water baptism.  Water baptism did not produce salvation; salvation came through the knowledge of God’s grace. 

   

  Eventually, the church required all to receive baptism by submersion as an outward sign of having accepted God’s grace and become a child of God.  Infant baptism was instituted by the church to resolve concerns about what happened to the soul of children under the age of accountability.  Church dogma by this time taught the souls of those not baptized would not enter heaven.  Baptism was seen as a life saver for souls so infants were baptized within a few days of birth to protect their immortal souls.  Hospital chaplains are often asked to baptize infants who are not expected to live, sometimes we are asked to baptize infants that are stillborn.  A great deal of power has been attributed to the ritual of baptism over time.  I do not find biblical support for this belief but I also do not deny the power of baptism for those who believe in its power to connect the soul with God.  As is true with all rituals, the power comes from the focused belief of those who participate.  Believing parents have the power to influence the God connections of a baptized child, an adult who receives baptism with the belief the ritual binds their soul closer to God will find this to be true.  The water baptism is only as effective as the spirit baptism it reflects.

   

  I believe it is unfortunate that church tradition allows for one baptism per lifetime.  This tradition also is founded in the belief that baptism sealed a soul for heaven.  Therefore, a second baptism would deny the efficacy of the ritual the first time.  If we think of the baptism of Jesus as the event that announced the beginning of his earthly ministry, then we can think of our baptism as the outward declaration of our inward decision to live our lives in service to God.  Viewed in this way, baptism is very much a ritual that requires the thoughtful participation of the one being baptized.  I think every adult should have the opportunity to choose to be baptized and to be baptized in the way most meaningful to them.  I had a ceremony which I called a remembering of my baptism in which I was baptized by submersion and baptized as an out gay man.  It was a very powerful experience for me.  Not because it had any effect on my salvation, but because it was a public declaration of my faith and my trust in God’s love for me just as I was created.

   

  The real life preserver is not the ritual of baptism.  The life preserver is hearing the Words of God in Isaiah:

  “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
     I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
  When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
     When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
  When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
     it won’t be a dead end—
  Because I am God, your personal God,
     The Holy of Israel, your Savior.

  This declaration of Isaiah does not say we will be spared the rough waters or being placed between a rock and a hard place.  It does promise us we have nothing to fear in the challenging times of life because we are God’s and God is always with us.  Another life preserver we have is hearing God say to us as God said to Jesus on the day of his baptism: 

  “You are my child, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

  Amen.

  • 12:43 pm
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