What Then of Baptism?

 It is not good for the body of Christ to be divided. When the church embraces the divisions of the wider world, especially when we bring them into worship, we are infecting Christ with bigotry and prejudice. At the same time, we are not looking to limit how much of a person can show up on a Sunday, how much of who they are is washed and claimed by Christ. As such, the unity in Christ found in Baptism isn’t a shorthand for erasing people’s uniqueness or being “color blind” in a way that blinds us to the totality of who a person is.

It is not good that there are many things that crowd out a baptismal life. It is especially worrying that modern life short circuits community in a way that individualizes our baptismal journey—a whole community walks this path together in song, leaving it up to individuals makes a joyful thing into a burden; at best the baptismal life bereft of community is a singular grand heroic act, but for most it becomes an absurdity to be abandoned.

 

              It is good that we find our unity in Christ Jesus, and nothing else, as the equation goes: Jesus+<Jesus. That said, part of being members of Christ’s body involves being curious about the other pieces of the body, honoring our siblings in Christ as whole people, not merely acknowledging the parts of them that are like me. Baptism calls us into relationship; honest and open relationships often open us to the experience of being “love struck.”

              It is good that baptism assures people that their loved ones, be they alive or dead, are in the eternal presence of Christ, that God has got ‘em. Our whole lives are lived in response to that good act—that God has got us—we the baptized live our lives in light of grace! And, when it isn’t clear that that’s how we’re living, when fear and anxiety grip us, it is good to crawl back to the font.

              It is good that the church has abandoned gate keeping and shibboleths surrounding baptism, but in doing so we must not abandon our care of the baptized. The newly baptized need to be nurtured in the faith, upheld by the whole community. Therefore, we are challenged to be creative and flexible, and trust in God’s ongoing guidance. God has got us, just as God has got the more recently baptized.