Thoughts on Baptism from Easter Sunday '09

These are some of the remarks shared during the baptism of one of our members this Easter Sunday:

Partaking in baptism does not make the person being baptized a better person, much less a better Christian. Her partaking in baptism is not a sign of her fortitude but is a sacramental gift of herself to us and to the whole church for she is making a picture of what God does not just for her but for all of us; her baptism opens the sacramental window between this world and the next and we see what God is doing in our church community and in all church communities, bringing us from the chaos of sin and its consequences by immersing us in his love, and giving us new lives in Christ.

It was customary in the early church to have baptism on Easter Sunday. The reason was simple. Baptism is one of two signs Jesus left the church to be visible and tangible symbolic enactments of the mystery of the gospel; in baptism we die with Christ and are raised with him in the power of his resurrection. Death is where sin and evil take us as they separate us from the good and sustaining life of God but Jesus has let death do its worst to him so that he might take away its threat of judgment to those who come to his vicarious death and receive the grace of forgiveness that flows from it, the mystery of the atonement - the exchange of Jesus' life for ours - is what is meant when we say that we have died with Christ in baptism. The resurrection is the newness of life that comes to those who have been freed from sin, evil and death. In the words of one theologian, when we have done our worst God remains God and remains committed to being our God. He who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to us and so this is why the words in the baptismal liturgy speak of being raised with Christ in newness of life.