On the Way

If you saw Keith Kimber's article in last month's magazine, you will know that our services are being revised. We may not use our current blue service book (unless we have good reason) after 31 December 2000. The Church of England's General Synod has been authorizing replacements (note the plural, because although in the end there will be "a book", the idea has been to provide specific resources - new readings, new collects, new prayers).

We have made one replacement already - the new baptism service. We do not use it often, and so we seldom think about the meaning of the different parts of this service, and this is a pity. So here is a quick guided tour.

The new baptism service was written in the light of a report produced for the bishops of the Church of England in 1995, called On the Way. The report sees faith as a journey - a process of discovery and transformation. And it is a journey not only for the new Christian, but also for the whole church community. The first Christians were known as followers of "the Way" (Acts 9:2, 18:25). Through baptism, others join us on our journey. On that journey, we grow in our closeness to God, in service to our fellow human beings, in our witness to God's redeeming power working in us.

The report took account of the many different attitudes towards baptism. But it was felt that there should be one service, the same for a committed adult convert as for the baby of non-churchgoing parents. There is, after all, only one faith and one Lord! And this meant that the service would stress two positive ideas:

welcome into the church, and hence a separation from worldly values
the joy of discipleship and its demands.

There are so many images associated with baptism - dying with Christ and being raised again, liberation from the power of sin, new creation, new birth, reconciliation, the opening of our eyes, our ears, our hearts and our minds, receiving the name of Christ, cleansing from sin, stripping off the old and putting on the new, being built as living stones into a new community. The new service tries to include all these images in a vivid and dramatic way, but at the same time to keep the whole action clear and accessible.

And it presents them in the form of a journey. Presentation, decision, signing with the cross, praying over the water, profession of faith, baptism, commission, welcome

So what does the service include?

It includes the presentation of the candidates, and their decision to reject the devil and all rebellion against God, to renounce the deceit and corruption of evil and to repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour
It includes signing the candidate with the sign of the cross - a symbol of commitment to Christ. In the new service, this comes before the baptism itself, to show that the candidate is ready and prepared to join the church community.
It includes a prayer over the water, bringing in the images mentioned above.
It includes a profession of faith. The "Apostles' Creed" has been used in baptism from very early times. In the new service, it is a joint statement of what we all believe in, rather than, as in the past, "a test for the candidate." (The whole congregation is encouraged to take a more active part in the whole service, you may note!)
It includes the baptism itself, "in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". It would take too long to discuss the difference between "immersion" and "submersion", and the images of washing and of drowning that the two evoke. The word baptism means "dipping": water flows over the candidate's skin.
It includes a time for clothing - a sign of the new life.
It includes the commissioning of the candidates to share in God's mission to the world, together with the rest of the church family, together with intercession for whole world.
It includes a welcome into the church.
And it includes two candles. A candle is lit at the start of the service, as a sign of the renunciation of darkness. And a candle lit from this candle is given to the candidate after baptism

In baptism, we welcome someone new among us. And we welcome their sponsors, their godparents and their parents, and rejoice with them, that a new person has come to share in the life of the church family - to share the joys of God's saving promises.