One of the joys of my day today will be the baptism of a nearly one-year-old boy. The baptism will take place at Placerville, our church camp, in the early afternoon. The camp is a very special and meaningful place for the mother of the boy and gathering her family to celebrate the new life and fresh generation will be a delightful time.

It isn’t, however, my preferred way of participating in a baptism. I much prefer for baptisms to take place in the context of regular worship services of the church. Parenting is a tough challenge and all parents need the love and support of the extended community. In a church baptism, we all promise our love, support and care not only to the one about to be baptized but to the entire family as they live and grow together in Christ. Those promises are deeply meaningful to me and I take them very seriously. In our congregation there are important symbols, including the gift of a quilt, that demonstrate the support of the extended community for parents and the child.

I do not, however, refuse requests to perform sacraments. In our part of the church, we recognize two sacraments, baptism and communion. They are the two actions that from direct instructions from Jesus as reported int he Gospels. We also have rites of the church, recognized by some communions as sacraments, such as marriage, confirmation, ordination, confession and pardon, and the like. But when it comes to baptism and communion, I do not believe that it is within my authority to determine who is included and who is excluded. My understanding of my authority as a minister does not give me room to refuse the sacraments to anyone. So although I might encourage a family to have a baptism in the context of a regular worship service, I will not go so far as to refuse to participate in the sacrament when it has been requested.

We have a long tradition of disagreement about the nature of the sacrament of baptism in the church. For about 75% of the history of the church, baptism didn’t raise much disagreement or controversy. Then, in the midst of the Protestant reformation, some of the reformers questioned the baptizing of children. Their argument was that making a life-long commitment to the church of Jesus Christ required an informed decision - one made by someone old enough to understand the commitment being made. On the other side of the argument were those who believe that there is no minimum age and no minimum amount of understanding or information required for full membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. The controversy extended when some communions began to repeat the sacrament. This was seen as a sign of disrespect for the initial sacrament by others. The commonly accepted name for the division of the church is “Anabaptism.” The “ana” prefix on the word refers to the repetition of baptism - it means again. In some other uses in the English language, the prefix can mean “excessive, or too much.” Anacusia - is profound or excessive deafness, for example.

When couched in that language and understanding, our church sided mostly with those who did not practice anabaptism. We continued in the tradition of baptism of infants and of recognizing the baptisms of other congregations. Once is enough. We have the rite of confirmation for the renewal of the baptismal commitment. Unlike the sacrament of baptism, we see confirmation as a repeatable rite.

These are rather esoteric arguments for the majority of Christians. While they can understand the difference between baptism by sprinkling of water and baptism by immersion, the obscure arguments about what age the person should be or whether or not baptism has been previously performed hold little interest for the average worshiper in the pew.

Each encounter with other Christians is, however, an opportunity for teaching and learning. Among the vows that I take seriously are my ordination vows, wherein I promised to both preach and teach the Gospel. Teaching has always been central to my understanding of my calling as a minister. So this afternoon’s celebration is an opportunity to teach a little bit more about the nature of the sacrament and extend the love of the church. I’ll have some important symbols with me. The certificate of baptism is issued by the church and I will remind the parents and other family members that the baptism will be recorded in the official records of our congregation. At any point in the future if the were to need additional proof of baptism, it would be available from our church office. I also will have a small prayer bear - a small gift that reminds the child and the parents of the wider community of love, prayer and support that is a part of their participation in the church.

And the basic elements of the sacrament: the words, the water, and the ceremony, come from deep within the traditions of the church - dating back to the time before Jesus’ birth. Reign of Christ Sunday - the last Sunday of the Christian year, before the beginning of Advent and a new year in the Christian calendar - is a great day for the sacrament of Baptism. It is a time of thinking of endings and beginnings - a time to be reminded that Jesus, who reigns over all of the earth came to us as a baby: fragile, vulnerable and in need of care. He grew into adulthood and his ministry in the context of the untrue and care of loving parents, an extended family, and a community of believers.

We affirm that community as we celebrate the sacrament of baptism this afternoon. We will bring our best to that sacrament as we do overtime we celebrate the sacraments. I look forward to the celebration with joy.

And, if we are faithful, perhaps a bit of that joy will be evident to the family gathered for the celebration.

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