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A statement of United Methodist belief about the meaning of Christian Baptism.
Each time a Baptism is being performed, it is as though a sermon were being acted out instead of spoken. The sacrament of Baptism is the Word, the Gospel, made visible. This document on the meaning of Baptism assumes the Baptism of young children. It is directed to parents. What is said here applies to adults with equal truth. But there is something about the Baptism of a child that makes the meaning of the symbols in all Baptisms especially clear.
As an enacted sermon, what does Baptism proclaim? What is the "Word made visible"? To answer that question we need to look very carefully at what is happening during a Baptism. In the presence of a gathered congregation water is sprinkled or poured on the head of a young child and the words, "I baptize you in the name of the Creator and of the Redeemer and of the Holy Spirit" are said. That event is a proclamation of the Word. And this is what is being proclaimed:
GOD’S LOVE SEEKS US OUT. The first question the pastor will ask you as you stand before the congregation will be:
"(Your name), as you present this child for Holy Baptism, do you reaffirm your faith in Jesus of Nazareth as Sovereign and Savior?" You will answer "I do."
When we say that Jesus is Sovereign, we are really saying something very definite about how we understand the way in which God relates to humanity. First, we are saying that God comes to us and acts on our lives without our being aware of it, before we know it, and sometimes over our apathy and resistance. God moves toward us before we move toward God. God did that in Jesus of Nazareth and we reenact and symbolize that in the act of Baptism.
Before the child is even aware of God, let alone of God as gracious and loving, God claims the child as beloved by God. Before the child seeks God, God has sought the child and pronounced the child good.
Once during a Baptism, an infant suddenly overflowed its diapers. The brown spots on the pastor’s robe were visible to all and the smell of the accident soon filled the church. And the pastor did a beautiful thing. She held the baby up for all to see and said, "It’s messy, smelly little people like this that God loves, just as God loves all of us, unlovely as we are – messing up God’s love as we do." Baptism shows us that in our relationship with God, the initiative belongs wholly to God, who seeks us out and offers us God’s love.
Second, in saying that Jesus, as representative of this God, is both sovereign and savior we are saying that there is no higher authority, no deeper center of our lives than this reality about God’s love. That love moves us to serve not only family members and others whom we know personally, but also the whole world. Under the sovereignty of Christ we serve with an insistence on justice, compassion, and wholeness for all of creation.
WE MUST AFFIRM DEATH IN ORDER TO BE SET FREE TO LIVE. For a desert people the most fearful form of death is the one they know least about – drowning. Yet Baptism, a ritual initiated by the desert people of Biblical times, is a rehearsal or symbolic enactment of a person going "under water" – drowning – and rising up again in new life.
In choosing such a powerful symbol, the Christian community is attempting to say that a person is free from the power of death only when its reality is affirmed. In other words, when the death of a person is affirmed, the person is set free from trying to live forever. Such a person is free to begin to celebrate and utilize the preciousness of each moment without wasting energy compulsively defending against death which must come to every person.
The words of the scripture speak good news to such a lifestyle: "For whether we live or die, we belong to Christ."
STEWARDS NOT OWNERS. The second question of Baptism is presented in this way:
"As persons of faith who believe that the fullness of life is found in the freedom offered by the Christ, are you prepared to accept the responsibilities and privileges of Christian parenthood? Will you yourselves be free and alive? Will you love and serve others? Will you help your child in understanding the Christian faith and teach him/her the Holy Scriptures in order that s/he might come to know and worship God?"
The answer: With the help of God we will.
This facet of the meaning of Baptism speaks a powerful word to parents of Baptized children. When such parents, with the church, Baptize (i.e., affirm the life and death of) their child they are saying that they must not see themselves as owners of their children. The life and death affirmation implies that this child’s life really belongs to God. Thus, the responsibilities of parenthood are responsibilities of stewards or privileged caretakers – not owners. The responsibilities suggest that if life and death belong only to God, the child is best served by the parents living life with their child as people who know and love the faith and want to share it as a means of enjoying the most life has to offer.
WE ARE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF ONE ANOTHER. The final question to the parents in Baptism is:
"Will you endeavor to keep _____________ within the ministry and guidance of the church? Do you agree that when he/she comes to the age of decision you will encourage him/her to accept for her/himself the gift of freedom and life instituted by Jesus and be confirmed as a full and responsible member of Christ’s Holy Church, realizing that this will be his/her own free decision?"
The answer: We will.
Only under very special circumstances should a Baptism be performed without the presence of the gathered church. In a Baptism not only is a child called a child of the Creator, but the congregation accepts the child as a brother or sister in Christ. The congregation not only accepts the child, but assumes responsibility for her/him. There is a point in our service of Baptism in which the pastor asks the congregation to love and care for the child Baptized and assume responsibility for the child’s nurture in the faith. Because the Gospel proclaims that all persons are children of God and loved by God, Baptism reminds us that all men and women are our brothers and sisters for whom Christ died and that we all have a responsibility to love and care for one another.
Those present at Baptism are reminded that the relationship between God and the child Baptized is precisely the same as their own relationship with God. They too have been loved and called to newness of life long before they were aware of it. The Word has been made visible. And just as with any proclamation of the Word, a response is demanded. The congregation is called upon to reaffirm the faith in which they were Baptized and to live free lives, just as one day, when the child Baptized comes to realize the meaning of what has been done to and for her/his Baptism, the child too will have to respond. That opportunity is given in confirmation classes and a service of confirmation, among other times.
Baptism like Holy Communion is a Sacrament – an acting out of a reality which has already happened and is happening. Baptism no more makes a child part of God’s family than the wedding makes two people intimate. Yet, a couple is not married without a wedding however intimate they are. Similarly a child, though always loved by God, is "initiated" into the Community of Faith only in Baptism. It is an act which creates a covenant.
Therefore, Baptism should never be undertaken lightly – never because of social or family pressure. Baptism is an act of faith.
WHAT ABOUT SPONSORS? Sponsors or "godparents" were once persons selected from a parish to represent the covenant community when Baptism was done outside the context of public worship. The sponsors made the vows of care on behalf of the congregation to parallel the vows made by the parents. Having sponsors is now optional. If a sponsor or sponsors are chosen the following should be considered:
1. Because they are making vows in the context of Christian responsibility they should be Christians. It is not necessary that they be United Methodists.
2. They should understand that they are not only affirming a relationship to and honor from the parents but they are taking on a "stewardship role" for the child. They become the most visible representation of the church’s care, support, and accountability to the child and parents.
3. When possible they should be present for the pastor’s home visit before the baptism. They should read, understand, and agree to that which is implied in the United Methodist understanding of Baptism.
4. While there are no legal encumbrances or rights which result from agreeing to being sponsors, those chosen should be persons of grace and love with whom the parents expect a life-long relationship for themselves and their child.
From "Alive Now"
Water may be the source of life, cleansing, and refreshment. But water is also a potential killer. Only a small amount of water in the wrong place will lead to instant, suffocating, terrifying death. And the church used to speak of baptism as death.
"When you are plunged under the waters of baptism," the church said, "you not only get washed, you die." We die to our old self, our old sin, our old selfishness, our old false securities. "And when you rise from the waters of baptism, you rise to new life in Christ." Baptism is therefore a dress rehearsal for death as well as a trial run for resurrection.
We die many times in this life. Every morning we must wake up to death – the death of our old self, our old sin, our old selfishness, our old false securities. We never get so adept at faith in God that we cease needing to die to those things which enslave us and keep us from God. Every day we have to die to our old selves in order that we might rise to what God wants for us. We have to plunge ourselves into the waters of life and trust in God alone to uphold us in the everlasting arms.
And when we come to the end of our life, we need not fear our final death. We remember our baptism. We have already gone through death a dozen times before and we need not fear what we have already done.
So we go down into the dark waters of death confident that, just as in baptism, the same God who buried us in baptism will pull us forth from our tomb, sticky and fresh and new, like a baby from its mama’s womb.
~ William Willimon
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