For a short time, I worked with a man at Lands End the clothing company. This man was a very fervent and faithful member of a large Christian church. This man also had twin 11-year-old daughters. They were fraternal twins rather than identical twins, and they looked so different from each other that you would never guess them to be twins unless someone told you. Their personalities were different, too – one was very outgoing, while the other was very shy.
One day over lunch this man was talking about his daughters, and all of a sudden our conversation turned into a theological discussion. He knew that I was a Lutheran and studying to be a pastor, and he knew that Lutherans practiced infant baptism. What led to the discussion was that his denomination did not practice infant baptism, but required people – all people, even children – to make a public confession of faith before baptism could be administered. The outgoing daughter had already made her public confession of faith and had been baptized. But the other daughter was too shy to stand up and speak before a large crowd – in the case of his church, a crowd that regularly numbered 1,000 or more people at any given worship service. The thought of standing up before all of those people and saying anything practically scared her to death.
Today is Trinity Sunday in the church calendar, the annual day we remember God's relationship to us in three forms, God as a parent, God in the form of God's son, Jesus, and God as Holy Spirit. But, today is also the day that we as a church join in celebrating with two young people their public affirmation of their baptismal faith.
So although I could spend time preaching about the three persons of God, or the Trinity, I thought that I would go on a different path and provide a refresher course on why we as Lutherans have an opportunity for young people to study about the Christian faith --- confirmation classes --- and a ritual when these catechumens publically affirm their faith.
Before we begin we need to remember that the roots of confirmation go back to baptism. "Bapto," the Biblical Greek word that means to immerse, dip or plunge into water also means to wash. Baptism was not an invention of the early Church and is not unique to Christians. In Judaism before Christ, there was a practice of ceremonial cleansing in water around certain events in religious life. That's why John the Baptist could so easily encourage people to go through the practice of baptism as a mark of repentance. Nor is purification and water unique to Christians and Jews, other religions also have water and purification as a rite of initiation or cleansing. Nevertheless, Jesus himself was baptized and some of his last words to the early disciples was to go and baptize all nations.
Also, in the book of Acts, baptism is frequently mentioned in connection with conversion, part of the natural step in the acceptance of the gospel message. Baptism is in "Christ's name or his name", signifying union with Christ sharing in his death, burial and resurrection. Furthermore in Acts, baptism is closely connected with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
At this point, I want to explain a bit about infant baptism and believer's baptism. These two terms go back to the Reformation. As many of you know, Lutherans are one of the earliest of what became known as protestant churches. For example, our namesake, Martin Luther --- thus the name Lutherans --- was the German priest and scholar whose written and oral critiques of the Roman Catholic Church of his day in the 1500's largely led to reform or the "Reformation" in the western Christian church.
As part of the reformation there was heated debate between Martin Luther and the other reformers around some of the central teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The reformers argued, reviewed and discussed with the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church some of the teachings and doctrines that were at the core of the Christian faith. In some cases, some reformers largely affirmed some Roman Catholic teaching, and in other cases, interpreting the Bible differently, argued that the Roman Catholic Church of the 1500's had moved away from the core of Christian faith. One of those cases was baptism. Some reformers who later became known as Baptists for reasons that will become clear shortly argued that the Roman Catholic Church had moved away from the practice of the early church, as they interpreted from the book of Acts, that baptism happened when someone articulated verbally their faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, because in Acts, baptism took place after a person publically said they believed in Jesus Christ --- Baptists argued for baptism of believers or "believer's baptism." These reformers became known as Baptists because they argued for "believer's baptism."
Some of the other reformers, like Martin Luther, however stayed with the practice of infant baptism as followed in the Roman Catholic Church, affirming and providing further reasons why it is important and necessary to continue the church practice of baptizing all people including those who could not speak --- like infants.
There are several arguments for baptism of people who cannot speak. First baptism is God's act, not a human act. It's primarily about grace, not faith. It is done to us in God's name (that is, as an act of God performed by God's representative) and therefore, we do not do it to ourselves. It is not the sign of a personal response to God, it is the sign and seal of what God has done for us.
Second, baptism for all people emphasizes the Word of God. When God's Word of promise and salvation is spoken at baptism, ordinary water becomes a means of grace to sinners. We do not emphasize the water apart from the Word. That's why Lutherans in particular have never been too concerned about how much water is at the baptism --- it can be a tub, lake or river or it can be a shallow bowl --- nor do we worry about what method the water is applied. The key is that the simple, ordinary element of water is combined with the all-important Word of salvation.
Third, we Lutherans practice baptism of all people, even people who cannot speak like infants because it broadens our understanding of the Great Commission; that is, to go to the entire world and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What is meant by that? Well, let's go back to those who argue against baptizing infants based on the book of Acts. Believer's baptism was the common practice. What is not mentioned however, in the book of Acts is that it describes mainly first-generation believers: in other words, adults.
No Christian churches have a problem baptizing adult believers. However, what the N.T. does not illustrate so clearly is what should happen with second-generation believers. When does the child of Christian parents start becoming a disciple of Christ? That process begins when the child is born, and therefore it is appropriate to baptize the child and begin teaching him/her to obey what Christ has commanded from the beginning of life.
Fourth, we practice baptism of all people regardless of what they can or cannot say. In churches that practice believer's baptism, faith is usually described as "my decision" or "my willful choice to follow Christ."
However, faith is more mysterious and often less conscious than that. Infant baptism exemplifies this broader understanding. We can also ask if an infant chooses to be conceived or be born. Does the infant intelligently weigh its options and determine to choose life and love? No, the infant's new life begins solely by the will of others, when they come together in an act of love. Then the incomprehensible life force one day moves the baby to enter the world, breathe, and respond to those who love her. Even so, God through Word and Sacrament, works faith and spiritual life into those who receive God's promise.
And finally that leads to today, when two people who were baptized as infants publically affirm their baptism, God's act of grace in their lives. Baptism is not just a one-time initiatory act that communicates one message about conversion. Rather, baptism is an ongoing part of a Christian life that we must remember and reenact every day. That's why we Lutherans do not talk so much about when "being born again." Because, we practice our baptism daily by repenting --- we confirm, we affirm, dying to the old life --- and rising to walk in new life.
Today two young people, now that they can speak for themselves, are affirming and confirming what happened and is happening every day of their lives: God loves them.
Unfortunately, I do not know what happened to the daughter of my co-worker. Nevertheless, as I tried to share with my co-worker from many years ago in a quandary about his one daughter being too frightened to publically state her faith and then be baptized, that was not an issue for us as Lutherans. In other words, what the daughter felt or did not feel is totally beside the point. God loves us and sent his Son so that we could learn once and for all time what it means to love God back. It is in that that we baptize. It is that love we affirm today and every day. Amen.
Charles, I find this very interesting, especially the part about the man's church requiring public confession of faith. First time I have ever seen it but the pastor at our Lutheran church here in Japan has a service a week prior to a baptism of anyone who is not an infant, make a confession of faith. This was true of a six year old two years ago and also adults. I find this strange. Have you ever seen this in other Lutheran churches?
As an aside, those transferring from another congregation, Lutheran as well as other, get a copy of the congregation's constitution as part of the "ceremony". I got it and Y, too (he transferred later as he was still pastoring Kariya. It is ok to receive it privately but publicly - I find it off putting. It is not confessional, is it? Ha, I didn't read it anyhow.
Posted by: Gloria Ishida | 16 June 2012 at 05:54 PM