Sometimes baptism’s impact is like the effect of rain on earth: it seeps in, slowly but surely changing the scene.

I had those thoughts as I read Sue Gamelin’s words in the November 2009 issue of The Lutheran, an issue focusing on patriarchy’s negative impact on our lives.

Sue’s story opens with her childhood love of the Bible, continues with her pain of leaving the church (“good girls don’t ask questions,” for example), and returns to finding the church again at her first child’s baptism. Eventually her experiences bumping up against patriarchy and male privilege gave way to the magnetism of Jesus’ profound respect for women – until one day she headed off to seminary.

Looking back over her journey, she witnesses to baptismal spirituality seeping deeply into our lives and weakening patriarchy’s underpinnings: “Soon after my ordination in 1980, a male pastor, asked me what I was trying to prove. Taken aback, I couldn’t answer him properly then. But now I would tell him that I’m trying to prove that my baptism ‘took.’ I put on Christ – and that has made all the difference.”

When we are “in Christ,” being male or female isn’t the issue.

Read Sue Gamelin’s full story on page 25 in The Lutheran, November 2009.

This is just a quick stop to post a beautiful water prayer that Lutheran World Relief mailed as a bookmark. Note the imagery from both the world of nature and the Scriptures. Then pray it – with thanks to LWR for their good sustainable development work around the world. I encourage you to support them. Water…a physical and spiritual blessing…so many ways.

 The Christian Century just carried a brief news item, “Reversing baptism,” telling of Britain’s National Secular Society (NSS) that is offering “certificates of de-baptism” for people wishing to renounce the Christian faith. Part of me thought: what next?! And another part is not surprised: Christianity’s denouncers are getting louder every day.

I was curious. I went to the NSS’s website to see what they were up to and the wording on the certificate they actually sell (and claim that people have downloaded 100,000). It reads: 

I __________ having been subjected to the Rite of Christian Baptism in infancy (before reaching an age of consent), hereby publicly revoke any implications of that Rite and renounce the Church that carried it out. In the name of human reason, I reject all its Creeds and all other superstition in particular, the perfidious belief that any baby needs to be cleansed by Baptism of alleged ORIGINAL SIN, and the evil power of supposed demons. I wish to be excluded henceforth from enhanced claims of church membership numbers based on past baptismal statistics used, for example, for the purpose of securing legislative privilege.  

Interesting, isn’t it, and I wonder where to begin a response. Maybe we should recognize that the NSS has been around Britain for 150 years so some of its claims are nothing new. But here are a few beginning thoughts:

• Apparently baptism is reprehensible because the person did not consent to it. I wonder if they feel the same way about their citizenship in the UK? Or about being born?!
• Human reason is NSS’s final court, it appears, with authority over against such superstitions as original sin. Actually (as said by one whose name I forget), original sin is one church doctrine that can be proved by reason!
• On the NSS website, the leaders claim a sense of humor in offering a certificate of de-baptism. What they do perpetuate themselves and capitalize on, is a misformed understanding of the Christian faith, for example that faith and reason are inimical to each other, or that creeds and superstitions belong in the same category.
• They are concerned, rightly, about baptism’s use as a statistic to procure privilege or status in society, and via the certificate, a person asks to be no part of this system. I grant that there is honesty and integrity in that. 

Here are more thoughts of a related nature:

• The British context is apparent, with tax support for the Church of England probably based on the inflated statistics that include many who are even hostile to it.
• The offering of the certificate shows a breakdown in the church’s life and mission – that baptism has become disconnected from Christian belief and discipleship. The church is suffering the consequences of baptizing where there has been little or no intention to raise the child in the faith.
• The question of a privileged position for the Christian church is no unique to Britain. In the early church, the Romans assured Christians they were not privileged – and individuals often paid a great price. After Constantine “christianized” his empire in the fourth century, the church occupied a position of privilege for centuries – which now in Europe and the USA is rapidly changing.
• Very likely the mission situation in which the Christian church increasingly finds itself will mean more adult baptisms. We cannot count on children coming to know and live the faith as they grow up.
• I don’t think a good response is to abandon infant baptism, but I believe it unwise, and maybe even unfaithful, to baptize indiscriminately with no attention to the faith of parents, sponsors, and others around the child.
• And in the end, I believe you cannot actually de-baptize. In baptism, even in a baptism rejected, God is still there calling one to return and to believe – about which the NSS will, I suppose, have a good, scoffing laugh.

The next Holy Saturday is April 11. The day between Good Friday and Easter. As a pastor I always felt that Holy Saturday was a very different, strange, in fact. A little bit like being on a journey and then getting lost. You know where you’ve been but you can’t go back. And where are you going? Well, you don’t know what it’s going to be, but it’ll be different, like nothing you’ve seen before. Unknown.

When I was a pastor, I’d put the finishing touches to my Easter sermon on Saturday morning, maybe even do the heart of my preparations. I seemed to need to go through Good Friday and it’s death-of-Jesus-drama to take this step. Then I could go to the blank sheet of paper or computer screen. But only then – Saturday – this odd  time between, the past gone, the future not yet.

In baptism, it’s the time of being plunged into the water, deep into it, drowning, being suspended there and not coming up. The old is ending, or ended, and the future is what? So much we don’t know. And yet for all the unknowns, we are there with Christ. That is the certainty.

I’ve found myself thinking these first days and weeks of my retirement are another version of Holy Saturday. All those years, nearly 38 of them, I’ve been a pastor. Who I was, what I’d do, how I’d spend my days – well, that was all pretty clear. Now it’s not, not the same at all. A key part of my identity is impacted, as it is for many people who retire. Work has been such a major component of our lives. Who am I now? Who will I be? The answer will come.

So I visit our adult children and help them on projects. I go to the games of grandkids. I do things at home. I read a few more books. I begin to look at some writing projects on my list. I get hints of what will be, but it still feels like unfamiliar territory. Like driving home from a few days helping a son, and thinking I had to be “on the job” the next morning…. Then realizing, No, I’m retired. I’ll get used to it, and it’s okay. Even better than that.

But there is something of the character of Holy Saturday, and the time must be lived through. No skipping it. A milestone moment. But there still is Christ who is with me in it all. And I am never just what I am giving up or losing. I am who I am in Christ, beloved, a child of God, a brother to so many others – and one who moves into the world of a new and different future.

In my last post I said would tell about an important ministry in the church designed about marking milestones in people’s lives.

Remember: milestones are those occasions in our lives where something important happens, often meaning a real “before” and “after.” These milestones might include events celebrated in the home; others in the congregation (or community as well). The Christian ministry of milestones takes place in the recognition and the ritual, keeping close the Christ connection: that we are “in Christ” even as we leave behind the old and face the new.

Who among us doesn’t recognize the importance of getting a driver’s license? It’s a teenager’s dream! Of course my beloved aunt found it pretty exciting at 65 years as well. Here’s a definite before and after. A real milestone filled with promise and responsibility. A Milestones Ministry recognizes this – deliberately.

If anyone that deserves credit for lifting up this element of baptismal spirituality, it’s The Youth and Family Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are at the center of exciting work to pass on the Christian faith especially within families and congregations. Check them out. They say:

A faith milestone is a marker along life’s journey that says, “This is something important and God is here, tool!” It’s time to pause, to share the joys and sorrows, to give and receive support.

As you might guess, some milestones are very public, such as high school graduation, and others more private, such as parents sending their child off to school for the very first time. So they may call for different kinds of celebrations, more public in the congregation or more private in the home. The Youth and Family Institute recognizes the differences, and it works with congregations to find their own pathway into this local ministry.

The opportunities to mark milestones are many. I know a congregation that for many years has given handmade quilts to its high school graduates on a special Sunday. I just served a congregation, Holmen Lutheran, that has been presenting the baptized with faithchests® to keep important mementoes and items for growing in faith through the years. Then there’s my personal experience: when I retired recently, my congregation celebrated, remembered, and did a Ritual for the Closure of a Ministry.

With Milestone Ministry, there’s a real sense of “before” and “after,” as I said, but in the words and the rituals, we realize there God is here too. Over the expanse of time, we truly we grow in faith and experience belonging to God.

In baptism we are named a child of God. What a title this is – to belong to the One who both sets the bright stars in space and knows the burnt-out cinders in our hearts. What a title this is –giving us dignity unmatched anywhere else.

There are so many way we can be defined that make us smaller, less significant, less noble than God would have us be. Even good parts of our lives just that – parts – and not our definitions.

I just finished reading Vivian Stringer’s personal story, Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph. Stringer is the successful basketball coach at Rutgers University whose team endured Don Imus’ infamous comments in 2007. She and her team handled the ensuing firestorm so well because of her refusal to let one part of life define her team. Her players are never just basketball players; their involvement in sports is a great opportunity but it’s never everything. As she keeps saying, “Don’t let it define you.”

Stringer is a coach who cares about the whole person. “I’m not just a basketball coach; I’m a woman and a mom and a friend. I look books; I love music. I care deeply about politics and social issues, both in my own country and in the world. There’s far more to me that simply being a basketball coach, and my girls are far more than just basketball players.” (241-241)

So when Imus berated her and her team, dragging down all her efforts of years of coaching (so she felt), she did what entirely in character: she stood tall, along with her team, and showed the world who they were – strong, poised, capable, proud. As she said about her team at their press conference, “They epitomized everything that is right with the world. They looked injustice and adversity in the face and turned it into a teaching moment” (277). Basketball players all of them, but giving a whole person response. Call it character.

Here’s a dignity that comes from a deeply rooted spirituality – deep in the waters of baptism too – that we are children of God and possess a dignity that is higher and wider and deeper than anything else in all the world. Stringer coaches and teaches that basketball never defines a person; this is just one part of what makes her book written with Laura Tucker an inspiring read.

“The Gospel of Will Smith” from the December 8 issue of Newsweek is an interview of searcher who is comfortable in his own skin.

His films like “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “I Am Legend,” and “Hancock” are into the tougher side of life. That’s where Smith wants to go. He says that he loves “the nature of humanity’s search for meaning. For me,” he goes on, “I’m certain about my relationship with the model of perfection of human life that’s laid out with the life of Jesus Christ.” Then he goes on to add, that it’s being at home in that basic relationship that takes away his fear of sitting “in a mosque or a synagogue or a Buddhist temple.”

Here’s another way to be a Christian. Be so anchored and secure in your identity as a follower of Christ that you can be open to others and their beliefs. The object is not first to convert them or convince them of your truth, much less put them down, but to listen to them and maybe even learn from them.

As I read the full interview with Will Smith, I admit that I don’t always see life quite like he does. But there’s good stuff here! Like “Life is all about death and rebirth and how do we manage to deal with those things when they happen. And not just death in terms of life. You know when you lose your job or your house – that’s a death of something that is a part of your life. How do you manage that?” Will Smith goes after these things in his films

I found this interview fascinating because it’s filled with baptismal spirituality, especially our dying and rising, as in the last paragraph. It’s also about who we are. In our baptism our identity as a child of God is secured, and when that identity is really lived out, it can – as Will Smith indicates – open us to the world and other human beings without fear and defensiveness. I believe that baptismal spirituality can mean for us both a committed heart and an open mind. Will Smith appears to be a good example. He makes me want to go and see another movie.

This Sunday, September 28, Christian pastors in no fewer than 22 states plan to use the bully pulpit of their congregation to endorse a presidential candidate or preach a political sermon. They do so knowing that this action can jeopardize the tax-exempt status of the church. That threat will not stop them. Some perhaps welcome this as a test.

Why are they so vehement about pursuing this action? They are convinced, as an LA Times article elaborates, that they are being prevented from preaching biblical truth, “what the Bible says.” They believe they need to speak out for or against a particular candidate because the Bible has one position and they know what it is.

So if they endorse McCain and condemn Obama because the latter’s position is “unbiblical” (or vice versa, though this stance is rarer), and if you worship in their congregation and have the opposite political stance, what is your place in that assembly? This is tough. You are more than of a different opinion, you are “unbiblical” – and that’s unacceptable. You probably will be called upon to see the error of your ways and repent. You may even be unwelcome in that community of faith if you hold to that position.

I am not arguing here about the serious threat to the church’s tax exempt status by this position – though that surely should not be minimized – but I am even more concerned that the radical inclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is jeopardized. The church is in danger of being a community of same-thinkers who have identified their position as the only one tolerated by the Bible. The wide scope of baptism is narrowed to “people like us” in politics.

The fact is the Bible is not of one political stance. It is a complex book of books, the product of individuals and communities over hundreds of years. Yes, it is inspired, but it is inspired for faith – to create faith, to nourish faith, to challenge faith. Its politics are always up for debate. Early on, Christian thinking on slavery wasn’t clear; it was debated and argued – far too long, of course. No less today than in Paul’s ministry, the issue of obedience to civil authorities gets varied responses – often in the same community of faith. The complex issues around life itself are not settled directly by the Bible as if there is one biblical position that is obvious without thought and debate. Think hunger, war, or capital punishment, for example.

These issues and many others are open for debate because the Bible doesn’t answer them directly. Some were not issues then. The answers take shape in believers and communities of faith as Christ is formed in us. When we were baptized, we were not given an immediate political position, but we were given Christ, an identity that is more radical than our politics. Our political positions may be deeply held and fiercely argued, but they are not so radical (rooted) as our being “in Christ” given to us in baptism.

When Christians or Christian pastors try to make one political stance the only acceptable one, they are shaping a community more in their own image than that of Christ’s. Instead of endorsing candidates and making the faith community a particular political party at worship, let our congregations talk about the issues and debate our responses. Let us argue what is biblical, yes, but also recognize the answers may not always be clearly one sided. Let us trust that Christian voters can be formed by the mind of Christ – even those who support the other candidate.

One of my personal thrills is to see the liberal and conservative opening their hands and hearts to receive the bread of communion together – or the Republican and Democrat, or the two friends who just finished a raised-voiced argument where neither convinced the other. Communing side by side. Receiving Christ who, so far as I know is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Being more than a partisan voice. Captive to Christ and not a political stance. Baptism is the grounding for that deep reality.

Now that was fun! I’m talking about the book signing I was privileged to have this past Sunday morning with the folks of my congregation. The ninety minutes between our two Sunday services were filled – signing for half an hour, then talking about the book for 15 minutes or so, and then signing again. What a joy to share this day with people who support my ministry.

I had a chance to talk about this favorite subject of mine, but in retrospect, I just scratched the surface of what I wanted to say. I guess that’s what happens when something’s become so deeply imbedded in your life. If I were to summarize the core of my motivation, it would be that deep in my heart I hope that baptism will become more closely connected with discipleship – and especially that baptism and discipleship are never separated. 

In the tradition and practice of my Lutheran church where the baptism of infants is the ordinary experience, it’s obvious that a baby knows very little about discipleship – well, nothing really. So the future is needed for discipleship to happen, a future with that little one surrounded by people of faith who keep telling her that she is a child of God and helping her understand and practice what that means. This sounds a lot like my book’s subtitle, doesn’t it: “living in baptism every day.” 

A few days ago I learned that there are about 70,000 baptisms annually in our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. If the average ELCA congregation is still around 500 members, that’s the equivalent of 140 congregations. What if all those baptized children also become effective disciples of our Lord? And what if the hearts and lives of the parents and sponsors who surround them are changed and motivated and empowered to live new lives of faith and love? Think how many people are affected.

 When I think these thoughts, I remember again why I wrote this book, Water for Your Soul. Here in baptism God reaches into human lives with such grace and love that, tapping into it and living it daily, we are blessed – and changed – and can make a hopeful difference in the world as people of Christ.

It was 4:00 p.m., December 31 and I was making a bank stop. I was about to greet my banker with a “Happy New Year” when he said, “It’s now the new year in this bank.” (He said this because transactions after 3:00 counted on the next day’s business.)  “Yes, it is possible to see into the future,” he continued with a gleam in his eye, “and it’s looks very much like the past.” We laughed. So how do we get a new future that’s not just the past all over again? 

Ninety-two year old Norman Borlaug who received the Congressional Gold Medal in July knows something of the answer – which is anchored deep in the  waters of baptism. Borlaug grew up in northeast Iowa near a little junction in the road called Saude. He went on to a career in science developing disease-resistant high yield wheat that literally saved millions of lives from starvation. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to world peace through food production. 

In “A high-yield life,” The Lutheran quotes Texas Senator John Cornyn as saying that “Borlaug views the future through the words of Isaiah: ‘And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose . . . And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.’” Now that’s a real new year! How does Borlaug think this will happen? “My whole philosophy,” he says, “goes to training young people” [in the sciences, too, he means] “who are willing to take risks.” 

People who are baptized should be the most ready to understand what he means – and take those risks. The pattern of our baptism itself is risk: letting go of the old and grabbing the new. Dying to sin, rising to new life. How much more breath-taking can it be! At the same time, in our baptism we have been bonded to Christ. We can risk things for this life because we have a security in Christ that’s greater than this life.  

I really think Borlaug knows the deep-water baptismal truth: that when we know we are God’s and our identity is secure, risk-taking for a better world is possible and can contribute to a new world of shalom, peace. Then the new year is not the old one all over again – for scientists or bankers or any of us. Happy new year!