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October 14, 2007
Scripture: Romans 6: 1-11
Title: "Baptism"

In seminaries across this country, there are great debates over the customs of the church. And none more widely or passionately debated than baptism. In one of our seminary classes at LTS, we had a special section that dealt with baptisms. We talked about the different services of baptism. We talked about the beliefs and traditions behind sprinkling and immersion. We talked about services that celebrated the renewal of our baptisms. We talked and talked about baptisms. But for class, there was always one topic that kept coming up for discussion: the purpose of baptism.

Part of this topic of debate centered on the children and youth of our church and their role as members in our church. There seemed to be a difference of opinion of actually when do children and youth become part of the church. Did the youth need to be baptized before they were considered members? Or were they members of the church already and through their baptisms, made a commitment to the church?

I advocated that the youth were already an active part of our communities of faith and that baptism should not be treated like a ritual of initiation into their church while some of my classmates thought that the act of baptism symbolized the moment when the youth became members and were initiated into the church. So I guess the topic of debate really centered on whether or not baptism should be seen as an initiation into the faith family or was there something more to our baptisms.

The semester ended and I am not sure these questions were ever answered. What is the purpose of our baptisms? Should our baptisms be seen as an initiation into the wider community of faith or should they be seen as an opportunity to commit to our active faith life and make a covenant with the wider community of faith?

I graduated seminary and still debate continued, and not just among my class of fellow students, who now serve as ministers in churches across this country. This debate of the purpose of baptism still continues in our churches and denominations today. This debate over baptism has been going on for over 2,000 years y.

For the Disciples of Christ, the debate over baptism began as our founders Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone starting looking at the theological reasons behind church customs. Both of these founders were Presbyterian ministers at the beginning of their ministries and each one, at some point, in his ministry began to wonder if what the church was actually practicing was what Jesus meant when he said to go and be the Church. Had the church veered too far from Jesus’ vision for the church?

Each one of these men researched the topic of baptism separately and came up with similar understandings of the purpose of our baptisms as Christians.
Alexander Campbell researched exactly how one was suppose to be baptized. He believed that the person has to come to the conclusion of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior on their own when they have a personal experience with the Risen Christ. No one can tell them when or why they believe in Jesus Christ.

And once that person has come to belief, this person is to be baptized by immersion. Partly because it is the practice found in the New Testament and partly because the act of baptism by immersion symbolically represents Christ’s death. By being taken under the water, this believer “dies” and is “buried” with Jesus. And as the believer is raised from the water, this believer raises up with the resurrected Jesus Christ. And through the person’s baptism, this person joined in covenant with God to be a person of faith.

And at about the same time, Barton Stone is realizing that churches are separating and dividing based on how baptisms should be done in the church. In many churches, your baptism was not considered legitimate if you had not been baptized as that particular church practiced. For example, if you had been sprinkled as a baby and the church you were attending practiced baptism by immersion, the church would say that you had not be truly saved as a believer and that you could not participate as a member of that church until you were re-baptized according to their practices. And if you happen to move and go to another church, you might have to go through this all over again!

Stone realized that Christians were separating based on church customs and were forgetting Jesus Christ’s message: to love one another and to help bring about the Kingdom of God. Jesus intended our baptisms to be an act of faith and to initiate us into the wider Church family so all believers, regardless of how they were baptized could do the work of the Gospel: to bring peace and hop to all of God’s children.

Alexander Campbell said our baptisms were to be a covenant with God . Barton Stone said that our baptisms were to be an initiation into the wider Church body.

These examples may answer the questions of why we do baptisms the way we do in our church but do they really get at the heart of the purpose of our baptisms. Are our baptisms a sort of initiation into the wider family or are they an act of covenant with our God?

Today, Our Scripture tells us that the purpose of baptism is a both/and answer to these questions. Our baptisms are an act of faith, a sign of a covenant with God to continue our faith journey while initiating, inviting us into the Body of Christ as a member. As we take a look at our story today, it is the day of Pentecost. The crowd has experienced the tongues of fire and the Holy Spirit. And they want more. Peter begins preaching up a storm, telling the crowds that God is doing something new and they are invited to be a part of it. The crowd realizes that the man known as Jesus of Nazareth who was killed was really the Messiah! This man that the Passover crowd turned over to be crucified was the Messiah. And they want to right the wrongs that they had done and they are moved into action They ask “What should we do? We want forgiveness of our sins. We want to receive the Holy Spirit. We want to be a part of this new creation.What should we do?” And Peter’s response: “Repent and be baptized.”

He tells them that you have just had an encounter with the risen Lord and now you must repent and be baptized. And as a result of these things, you will be forgiven and by baptized by the Holy Spirit. You will have a baptism of water that will wash you clean and you will have a baptism of the spirit that will enrich and enliven you as people of faith. You will be made new! New as people of faith as the community of God.

When the crowd asks what they should do to receive forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, he does not offer “helpful hints on living a more fulfilling life, no useful projects to work on, no feel-good platitudes. Rather, he calls people to conversion. What is important is that the people repent” and begin to live out their life and their faith in God through Jesus Christ.

What is important to Peter is that the crowd acknowledges that they have been invited to a new beginning between the people and God; into a new creation as the community of God.

A new beginning in covenant and as a member of the Body of Christ.

And that is how we as Disciples of Christ answer the debate of baptism. We as Disciples of Christ say that It does not matter how you were baptized. It does not matter who baptized you. We say that It does not matter at what age you were baptized or at what age you decide to be baptized. It does not matter whether you were baptized in a creek, if you were sprinkled as an infant, or you were immersed in a baptismal in a church’s sanctuary.

What matters is that you are a believer of God. What matters is that you live in faith. What matters is that you are in a covenant with your God to live out your faith as people of God. What matters is that you are initiated as part of the one body of Christ, into the one Church of God. What matters is that you belong to God. What matters is that you believe!

For us as Disciples of Christ, The purpose of our baptism is a both/and statement. We believe and commit to nurture the youth and children of our church along their faith journey. We invite them to be a part of our church family through worship, through service, through love. We covenant with God to guide them as they grow in faith. And then when it comes time and they decide to embrace this covenantal love of God as believers of Jesus Christ, they are baptized and they are initiated into the whole body of Christ.

Baptism for us is a both and act of faith. It is both a covenant and an initiation. As believers, we have encountered the risen Lord in our lives. As believers, we have repented and have been motivated to change our lives. And as beleivers, the way we show our faith and our repentance is through the act of baptism, as a sign of new beginnings, as a sign of a covenant with God and with the wider community of faith.

Through our baptisms, we know that God is active in our lives. That God has shown us grace and is welcoming us to live eternally with God. God extends the invitation to be a part of God’s family through the act of baptism and in accepting that invitation by being baptized, we covenant to live out our faith as instruments of God’s peace and love.

Faith. A new Beginning in our relationship with God.

Repentance. A new relationship with God.

Baptism. A new covenant with God.

Baptism. A new initiation into the whole body of Christ.

May the baptismal waters of our lives continually renew us to live out our new life as disciples of Christ.

Rev. Heather McColl
Midway Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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