Baptism

One thing that rather surprised me when I moved to Charlotte is that there really is a book called Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt. I had the chance to read most of it and liked it well enough, but my favorite part is there recommendation on how to answer the question, "So when were you saved?": "Oh, about two thousand years ago in Jerusalem."

It's a funny distinction, but I believe it really does exist. The omnipresent Baptists down here place a lot of importance in their decision for Christ and continually being saved. And I think that's great! But I also think that it misses out on a few things. While us engaging ourselves in a relationship with Christ is very, very important, it's nowhere near as important as God engaging us through Christ.

Paul makes this point very well in Romans 10. "Say the welcoming word to God--'Jesus is my Master'--embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you."

That's what I love about the Presbyterian view of baptism. It isn't us choosing to be God's, it's a symbol of dying to who we think we are and living again as who we really are: God's called and chosen children. We weren't some other person before baptism and we aren't a fundamentally changed person after baptism just as we're not not God's child before and we suddenly become God's child after. Baptism is just us saying sending in our RSVP card to the invitation that God has already sent (I bet you can't guess what part of wedding planning I'm currently embroiled in). And I love that. I don't know why, but I love that interpretation of baptism.

I love using Harry Potter to illustrate this view of baptism. Prior to Hagrid knocking down the door on the house on the sea, Harry was a wizard. He might not have known that, but he had the blood for it and had even shown a curious predilection towards the unexplained. Harry's "baptism" isn't being given a wand and an invitation to attend Hogwarts, it's Hagrid explaining to Harry who he really and already is. What a grand idea! I wish it was mine :)

I think there is also something comforting in knowing that I have less responsibility in my relationship with God, that I'm not the primary mover here. God's doing the wedding, I just have to show up and enjoy the festivities. This doesn't discount my commitment to what God's doing, it just fleshes out the responsibilities here and points out that he's God and I am not. Which, and I think Paul agrees with me here, is how it should be.

Post Script: I attended a Bible study recently talking about using hellfire and damnation as a means of evangelism. The point was made by a leader that Christ often went to this tactic and thus we should probably too. However, the more I thought about it, it seems that when Christ is using hell and scary stuff it's to talk about people who aren't loving and taking care of other people. This could be pretty radical stuff so I want to start pursuing a study of Christ's use of hell imagery and when he used it after I finish with Romans. I'm just putting it here so that when I do finally finish Romans I'll hopefully remember where to go next. Or, Ben, you can remind me :)