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.  

Remembering the Waters: A Sermon Celebrating Baptist Heritage (John Smyth, 1609)

Remembering the Waters

Note: Throughout 2009, Baptists celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the Baptist tradition. Opportunities to learn about our religious heritage will be offered throughout the year. Today’s sermon is the first of these commemorations, appropriately on the Sunday given to remembering the baptism of Jesus. On a personal note, I recollect my first encounter with this congregation on the Sunday in 2006 given to remember the Baptism of the Lord. It was the Sunday I interviewed with you to be your minister. I am grateful to be with you four “Baptism of the Lord”’s hence. --JHH

A few years ago, we attended a large Greek food festival held by a local Greek Orthodox congregation. If you like Greek food, you went away quite stuffed with good food. If you felt like you needed to burn calories quickly, you could join the crowd dancing in the tent. (As the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding might have put it, if you are Greek, you eat, you dance, and when you hurt, you spray a little Windex on it.)

The congregation offered tours of their sanctuary as well as a brief greeting from the priest. As we sat in the sanctuary listening to the priest’s remarks, Kerry passed me a card in the pew rack. The card explained the origins and beliefs of the Orthodox Church and where the Orthodox fit into the story of Christianity in comparison to the Catholic and Protestant movements. Each denomination had a brief explanation, and under “Baptists”, the card read:

“Baptists believe in baptism by immersion for adults only.

Their founder is English reformer John Smyth.”

In the late 16^th-century, John Smyth was a part of the English Separatist movement, persons who did not accept the Church of England’s authority or teachings. In turn, neither the Church nor the English court tolerated Separatist movements. With a small group of Separatists, Smyth fled to Amsterdam, a safe haven for religious dissidents. Over their years in the Netherlands, the congregation developed their beliefs further, taking some of their theological influences from interactions with the early Anabaptist, or Mennonite, groups also in Holland.

Historians consider Smyth’s congregation to be the first “Baptist” church, as by 1609, the congregation evidenced beliefs and practices clearly “baptistic”. The congregation, Smyth included, came to believe the true Church, as described by the New Testament, was not in existence, refuting their baptism within the Church of England. William Estep writes, “The church was then reconstituted on personal confessions of faith and baptisms”. (The Anabaptist Story, 3^rd ed., revised and enlarged) Hence, Smyth baptized himself (admittedly this part of the story gives many, including myself, a case of theological heartburn) and then he baptized the rest of the people!

By 1610, the congregation had developed twenty statements about their theological beliefs. Here are two of these statements: “The Church of Christ is a company of the faithful; baptized after confession of sin and of faith, endowed with the power of Christ”. The second statement of note here: “Baptism is an external sign of the remission of sins, of dying and of being made alive, and therefore does not belong to infants”. (Quoted in Brackney, Baptist Life and Thought: A Source Book, revised and expanded)

On a side note, you will be surprised to learn, however, that these “first” Baptists did not baptize by immersion. This early congregation practiced baptism by triune affusion, pouring water over the person three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It would not be until later in the mid-17^th century, when the Baptist tradition was developing further that the New Testament described baptism by “dipping”, or immersing, the person. The main concern for Smyth’s congregation was a person receiving baptism after he or she professed belief in Christ and renounced his or her sinful nature. This is “believer’s baptism” indeed!

For today’s Baptists, there are some differences of opinion on how we look back at our roots. In case you have not realized, Baptist churches differ, even within their denominational traditions. Indeed, we are like snowflakes: no two Baptist churches are exactly alike!

For example, some congregations like our own welcome persons baptized as infants into the membership without another baptism. We describe this way as “joining by Christian experience”. Other Baptist congregations would expect a candidate for membership baptized by immersion only and hold a very firm line that any other form of baptism was invalid. (Most of these congregations I knew in the Midwest had a low opinion of churches baptizing infants or baptism by sprinkling. Some churches even refuse communion to persons not baptized in a Baptist church. In one case, persons not baptized specifically within the fellowship of that specific church can partake in communion. That particular church brings new meaning to the term “closed communion”!)

Looking back at the events of 1609, what have we learned? As we go through 2009, recalling the history of the past four centuries and summoning ourselves to writing the next chapter, let us remember that recalling our history helps us understand our spiritual DNA. I like the phrase “spiritual DNA” as religions have unique traits passed down from generation to generation. Some traits helpfully ground a religion, while other traits remind us of the need for “gene therapy” from time to time. From the story of John Smyth and his congregation, let me suggest some helpful insights:

Let us return to where the sermon began: being a tourist at the Orthodox Church. Technically the Orthodox Church’s pew card about various Christian origins had the Baptist information arguably incorrect. Smyth was among the earliest Baptists, however, he is not “the” first Baptist in the sense of a Luther or Calvin. In Baptist Ways, the current “key” text for Baptist history, Bill Leonard observes, “Baptist have no single founder whose life and thought identifies the historical and theological origins of the movement.” If you are Lutheran, you can stock your bookshelf full of Luther’s writings. If you are a Presbyterian, Calvin’s Institutes is a touchstone. The Methodists have Mr. Wesley. The Baptists have, well, literally potluck.

We have a variety of early progenitors, those who help get the tradition underway, but it is not necessarily neat and tidy history or theology alike to claim John Smyth as “the” founder of Baptists. I would stress instead that even in their origins, the Baptists are true to form. To understand Baptists, you do not look to one key figure. Hence, the early stories of Baptists speak well to our abiding witness: the Church is the company of the faithful, or the many people, great and small, or in English Baptist parlance, “the gathered people”. We respect Smyth and the other pastors who gave shape to Baptist proclamation and thought. Nonetheless, to tell the Baptist story is not to recite the cavalcade of a few key voices, or as some historical surveys tended to do in a (hopefully) bygone era: to celebrate history as the achievements of “old dead white men.”

Looking at our roots, perhaps we should claim ourselves heirs of Smyth AND his congregation. The earliest Baptists affirmed that our belief in Christ and our discipleship matter greatly as signs of our faithfulness to God. It is not Smyth alone, in writings or in his acts, making this mark in history. The perseverance of the little congregation kept the Baptist faith from dying out in the years of hardship that followed.

The significance of the events in 1609 and the leadership of John Smyth are just part of the story. What happened after that seminal year of 1609 needs its due. The original group fleeing England with Smyth was approximately 150 persons. By 1612, the congregation had whittled down to ten persons, the membership fractured by theological disagreements among the faithful.

The remnant returned to England in 1612, now led by Thomas Helwys. Smyth left the fellowship sometime after 1610, seeking membership among the Mennonites, among whom Smyth came to believe were practicing the most authentic ways of being a New Testament church. Despite Smyth’s own ironic short-term adherence as a Baptist, his congregation persevered, establishing the first Baptist church in England in 1612. Four hundred years later, Baptists have spread out across the world as a global Christian tradition. Indeed, as we celebrate our roots, we do not look to one lone individual. Rather, to tell the Baptist story aright, you must tell many stories of ministry, the work of the laity and the ordained. To speak of Baptists, you tell of mission, local and global alike. To celebrate, you tell all these stories. Then, you eat, you dance (if your batch of Baptists approves of such things), and then, well, you eat again.

As we start out a year of opportunities to remember and strengthen our Baptist history and heritage, I wish to recognize two important ways First Baptist, Bennington, is living out its faith. First, I want to affirm that we are all together in the ministry of the church. I serve you as the coordinating minister, called to help the whole people carry out the ministries and mission of the church, as we realize that not any one person lay or ordained is solely responsible for the ministry and mission of the church.

This is the second lesson, the part of Baptists in 2009 echoing the spirit of 1609: Each of us is part of First Baptist, the whole people, the gathered people, “the company of the faithful”. Together, we listen for God’s calling. Together, we seek Christ’s path. Together, we are gifted by the Spirit to be the diverse and gathered people called “church”.

Thanks be to God.