Remembering Baptism

Despite assurances to the contrary, the water was COLD! 

My family started attending church services when I was in elementary school. I was baptized in 1984 on the same day my father was baptized.  At the appropriate time in the service, we stepped out of service and headed to change for the baptism. We didn’t have white robes in the little Kansas church that baptized me.  They said to bring along an extra set of clothes and change in the men’s bathroom in the fellowship hall.

We stood there, taking off our dress clothes.  I was a bit nervous, taking my clothing off fairly quickly.  My father said, “Slow down, son.  They don’t baptize you naked!”

Years later in seminary, I read that some early Christians practiced baptizing persons naked and greeting the person as they rose out of the pool with new clothes, symbolizing the new life found in Christ.  I thought to myself, “Well, I guess I was technically correct….”

Over our four centuries, while keeping to a theology of baptism by immersion, Baptists have varied the ways in which such a baptism could take place.  For most of our 400 years, the idea of an “indoor” baptism is newer than we think.  Early Baptists in Philadelphia baptized persons using rocks out in the river as a place to stand.  Locally, First Baptist used Barber’s Pond until they decided baptism, even in the dead of winter, ought to be indoors.  (Talk about your “penguin plunge”!)  Baptists in the South might have used the sandbar out in the river as a place to have the baptismal candidates gather with the pastor.  As for the Baptists of Moline, Kansas, they put me on a cinder block, used only for baptizing children, so they could be seen a bit better by the congregation.  They used a heating coil to warm the waters, but as I said earlier, that water was cold!

Baptism…. We opt to drown sinners good in the Baptist church.  Baptism by immersion distinguishes the Anabaptist tradition among the Protestant movements.  Baptists, Mennonites, and a few others insist that baptism involves a high water bill.  In fact, in Amsterdam last summer, the Baptist World Alliance met at a Mennonite church for our 400^th anniversary celebration of the Baptist tradition’s origins in 1609.  The street sign said, “Doopsgezinden”, an old term, originally meant to be derogatory toward Mennonites.  If you want to understand us, call us “baptism minded” folks.

Despite the historical differences in the theology and ritual around baptism, the Church universal agrees baptism is part of being a Christian.  To follow Christ is to be caught up in the divine story of God and humanity, the brokenness brought about by human sin, and the strong desire of God to bring about humanity’s redemption.  We Baptists celebrate baptism as a personal act, as the individual affirms his or her belief in Christ as Lord and Savior. 

In our more ecumenically minded present day, most Baptist churches are welcoming of persons who were baptized otherwise.  Nonetheless, when you ask a Baptist about core beliefs, we will affirm who we are:  baptism by immersion, gathering around the table for communion, sparingly in comparison to the more Eucharistic traditions of the Church, and of course, we know how to throw a good potluck.

Each week, we gather together as the baptized people, celebrating and looking for signs of new life.  Though this particular day we have no persons to baptize, we display one of our baptismal robes as a reminder of our core belief in baptism by immersion. We will be on a journey through the winter and spring, learning more about our Baptist beliefs and heritage.  Most importantly, the older elementary students will be exploring Baptist beliefs through their religious education.  It is time to share with our children this story of our belief, now as they begin to reach the age where such decisions can be explored and made.  Such sharing is part of our calling:  to speak of our lives shaped by Christ.

Remembering the day of my baptism, I recollect the congregation had a practice of singing a number of hymns right after the baptisms took place.  Practically, this extended time of singing gave the minister a chance to get likewise out of the wet clothing and change.  I remember back to that day, and I believe this to be a good practice.  What better for a church to do than to sing of the faith gathering us together?

<WE SING>

Tomorrow, our nation gives thanks for the witness of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, Jr.  Of the civic holidays, the King Holiday is becoming a time to celebrate King’s life and work, and many persons use the day not for “play” but for engaging in community service opportunities.  We’ll gather Monday evening at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship for the interfaith community King Celebration.  (They’ll have a potluck, so don’t worry, you’ll feel right at home!) 

Given the connections of today’s focus on baptism and the civic holiday celebrating a 20^th-century Baptist, I thought it appropriate to look for any stories related to King’s own baptism.  From Taylor Branch’s massive three volume biography of King’s life, I found a brief mention of King’s baptism, recalling:

In 1934, when a guest minister at Ebenezer [Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA] made a strong pitch for the salvation of young souls, [King] watched his [older] sister [Christine] rise to make the first profession of faith.  Impulsively, as he later confessed, “I decided that I would not let her get ahead of me, so I was the next.”  He wryly observed that he had no idea of what was going on during his subsequent baptism.  He knew the feeling of being special, and the intense pressure of churchly expectation, long before he had the slightest grasp of religion.  (Parting the Waters, America in the King Years, 1954-1963, p. 48).

The story chastens those looking for a bright beginning to King’s storied career and faith journey. King did not blossom without the upbringing in the context of a church community that embraced and helped him claim a sense of identity and voice.  That King became a national figure for Civil Rights and an enduring symbol for America at its best is well worth celebrating, but we cannot forget the formative influence of those waiting for him as he rose up in church and professed his belief or helped him towel off and change into fresh clothes when the day of his baptism occurred.  As King began his religious life a bit unsure and uncertain of what he was promising in his confession and baptism, it was the gathered people called “church” that helped him along his journey.

Along the way, our Baptist tradition has emphasized baptism as an individual and personal decision.  We have given less reflection to the communal implications.  We come to Christ each of our own choosing, however, it is the presence of other believers who help us grow in the faith.  The old proverb claims it takes a village to raise a child. In the Christian life, it takes a church to shape a believer.

After the waters of baptism, there is much work to do in shaping persons to grow in Christ. You see this in other traditions when catechism is offered.  Baptists likewise need a robust sense of religious education, and we are reclaiming this as we adjust our religious education to match our children as they are growing into middle school age.  We have to work hard to retain them as they become youth and demonstrate to them that the life of faith will help them as they grow up to be the next generation.  Who knows?  Perhaps we have a future King in our midst. 

In turn, the role of religious education for adults becomes important.  I am grateful we have restarted adult education at First Baptist, as we need to keep providing opportunities for believers to wrestle with the intersections of life and faith.  This month, the adult forum reflects on Jewish/Christian relations with Rabbi Cohen.  Beginning next month, we explore what it means to be a Baptist, and it ought to be a lively dialogue about our faith and the fruitfulness of exploring our heritage.  You’ll find it lively as the Baptist way is one of diversity.  In case you haven’t heard, Baptists don’t all think all alike!  Yet, we are all one in Christ.

The journey of faith begins with that decision which leads you to the pool of water.  What happens next is likewise up to you.  In Baptist history, much has been made what is meant by the Greek word for baptism, yet I am a bit curious by that word right beside it.  In the gospel of Luke, John preaches a baptism of metanoia, the Greek word typically translates as “repentance”.  More accurately, the word “literally means changing one’s mind or outlook” (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Sacra Pagina, p. 64).  The change is not meant to be one-time.  Our baptism inaugurates an ongoing process of growth, adjustment and challenge.  We do not just “get saved”, as some Baptists traditionally say.  We are on a journey that begins with our yes and continues each time we keep saying “yes” to life in Christ.