Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-020

BAPTISM – AN ‘ACTED CREED’

From ‘Sunrise Sunset’ (HarperCollins/Harper San Francisco), Rowland Croucher’s book of daily meditations. Feel free to use or adapt it.

We have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4.

A sacrament is ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.’ The word comes from the Latin sacramentum, the term used for the coin given to a soldier when recruited to serve the Emperor. For people in tune with the Infinite God everything is sacramental. But the Lord serves us especially in ‘the sacraments’ of water, bread and wine.

Baptism is an ‘acted creed’. ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven’ ought to be our response at every baptism. Baptism is the rite of entry into the church. It is ordination for ministry. It ought to be the time when a person receives the fullness of the Spirit and, before the congregation, is assured of his or her ‘Spiritual giftedness’.

The baptismal service should have some sort of creed or covenantal statement to express the body of beliefs and commitments of the church into which the candidates are being baptized. The Apostles’ Creed was originally called the Baptismal creed. The mode of baptism, the amount of water used and the age of the baptized may vary from church to church. The more important factor is that one is baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The time is coming, hopefully, when more churches will recognize each other’s baptism in this way.

My baptism, Lord, means I have publicly declared my allegiance to you until death. May your risen life be lived out through me. Amen.

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