Who remembers their baptism? No, me
neither. Who remembers their children's, or grandchildren's, or
godchildren's, or other baptism? Who remembers William's baptism?
Good, extra points for you. Ok, more tricky now. Who has ever
thought, seeing a family in the weeks before a baptism and then at
the service, “I wonder if we'll ever see them again?”. Or even,
treacherously, “why are we baptising this child when we know full
well they will never set foot in a church again?”. Who has ever
looked at a tiny little baby and thought – what sin has she ever
committed? What forgiveness could he possibly require? In our
tradition we baptise infants, but why?
All very good questions. And
coincidentally I wrote a 3000 word essay on this very topic a few
years ago which I will now read... only joking. But if baptism is
indeed fundamental to our faith, then I feel it is a topic that is
worth examining.
Let's start with Jesus, like a good
little reformed Catholic churchgoers. We hear today that Jesus was
baptised, although Luke does not specify by whom. But if Jesus was
without sin, why was his baptism necessary? I think our trouble here
is with our language. We say baptism is for forgiveness of sin, but
perhaps we need to say he was baptised for repentance.
We think of repentance as a sorrow, an
acknowledgement of wrongdoing, but in it's purest form repentance is
a turning away, setting oneself towards a new path. By all accounts,
his baptism marks the beginning of Jesus adult ministry and his
journey towards Jerusalem. It is mentioned as such in all 4 Gospels.
Baptism is the beginning of Jesus life as an acknowledged child of
God.
Baptism, for Jesus, is about identity.
You are my son, the beloved;
with you
I am well pleased. Baptism teaches us who we are, as children of God.
In a world which seems to be going through an identity crisis, once
baptised we know who we are. When fractured families seem to be more
common, when mid life crises are looming and career shifts are the
norm, we have an identity that can not be changed. We are
acknowledged children of God. We belong to a family that transcends
time
and space, that can never be fractured or broken no matter how hard
we try.
But
does Baptism “make” us part of God’s family or does it
“announce” to us that God includes us in God’s family? I think
how you answer this one greatly shapes your sense of why we baptize
in the first place. If it’s the former – Baptism makes us part of
God’s family – then Baptism becomes a requirement of life with
God now and in the life to come. At its best, this greatly stresses
Baptism’s importance, but at it’s worst, it devolves into a
“ticket to heaven” mentality where parents want their children
“done” just to be on the safe side. I still remember lying in bed
at night as a child worrying about those little children in Africa
who were destined to burn in hell because they hadn't been baptised –
I don't know where I got this idea, I blame the internet. If, on the
other hand, it’s the latter – Baptism announces God’s inclusion
of us into God’s family – then perhaps we can feel some urgency
to keep reminding ourselves and each other of that tremendous gift
and be willing to imagine how God might also reach out to those who
have never been baptized.
But
does this take away the specialness, the uniqueness of being
baptised? I don't think it does. We are not better or more loved
because we have been baptised, but we are different. Maybe God
doesn't need the sacraments, but us humans sure do. A sacrament is
defined as “as outward sign of an inner reality”, basically
something tangible to show something of God's grace. The second
element of the sacraments – in addition to being tangible signs for
tangible people – is the reminder that God works through means.
That God always comes to us in ways that are accessible to us. That
is why we baptise our children in front of the congregation. That is
why we promise to support and love these families, whether or not we
see them again, whether or not they do what we think they should. We
promise to show them God's love, that has no limits and no
boundaries.
That
is part of why we baptise infants. It is part of why my babies were
baptised when they were far too small to remember any of it. But part
of the reason too is that I think there’s something about not
waiting until someone understands or can choose or participate
actively that’s powerful, too. It demonstrates that God didn’t
wait, that God not only loved us in general but wants us to know
about it, that God actually wants us to grow up surrounded by this
profession of love way before we can understand or even attempt to
understand it. Could we just tell each other that and hold off on
baptism. Perhaps. But there’s something about the sheer physicality
of drenching a child in the waters of baptism that makes it
three-dimensional. There are lots of rituals, I suspect, that we do
with our children that they don’t understand and won’t remember
but we do them to establish a foundation with them. First birthday
parties (or second or third for that matter); celebrations over first
steps, first words, first successful potty training ; huge bear hugs
and more. Why wait?
If
we were longing to adopt a child and that child was available to us
to love even as an infant, would we wait until they were old enough
to understand. I mean, we could foster the child, tell her over and
over how much we love her, and then when she’s old enough to
consent and remember it all better then have the formal adoption
ceremony. But I’m guessing we’d want too badly to include him
into our family as fully and completely as soon as possible rather
than hold off.
Today
we will celebrate our own baptism. Because baptism is a sacrament
like all sacraments that is not limited to time and space. When we
participate in the Eucharist, I believe that we are somehow joined
and joining all people throughout history who have done the same.
Baptism is a one off event but also a continual renewal. Knowledge of
our baptism calls us to repentance each and every day, to turn away
from sin and set our faces towards a new life. We live in the
knowledge that we are in a relationship that can never be broken. We
are the family of God. The Lord be with you.
