Trinity 1: 1^st June 2008

Preacher: Thea Oliver

Rodney Stoke- Baptism

Good morning! In a few moments we are going to witness the baptism of: James & Jasmine

All peoples and cultures have ways of celebrating and welcoming newcomers into the family and community and we Christians celebrate Baptism. But what is Baptism? It is a visible sign of something that is difficult to put into words. Often we use signs to indicate important truths. For example:

• A kiss shows love;
• a handshake shows friendship;
• a salute shows loyalty;
• and at a wedding we give and receive rings, as a sign of marriage.;

Baptism shows that we belong to the Church. It is wonderful to belong, to know we belong to God and that we are precious to him.
What we call baptism actually has three parts.
There is dedication and thanksgiving, parents give thanks for their children and promise to bring them up in a loving Christian home. There are promises to be made by godparents or sponsors and by the congregation, because we promise to support them too.

There is the christening, literally a "naming in Christ." If James & Jasmine were still babies Stanley would ask Louise & Steve to “Name these children," and they would respond with what we call the "Christian name," our given name. What a privilege and responsibility it is, to have given someone the name by which they will be known to the world! But this morning James & Jasmine will answer for themselves! They have chosen 2 hymns and are also going to tell us in their own words why they want to be Baptized.

And there is the baptism. The word 'baptize' means to dip or to immerse. For 2000 years, baptism has been the Christian rite of initiation marked by dipping or immersing in water. It is a ceremony full of rich symbolism and meaning.

James & Jasmine have come with their natural family & the rest of us are their extended church family and that is equally important.  Baptism is an act of community & doing this during a Sunday morning service with us all here makes the point that we are all in this together! 

Every one of us is unique. There is no one else exactly like us in the whole world and God wants us to be spotless! But often we forget this. Sometimes we do things that spoil the loveliness that God made. That is why in Baptism we use water as a sign of washing clean.

Through Baptism we are brought into the Family, not only of the local church, but of the Church worldwide. But even this is not enough. The service of Baptism spells this out. All of us need to belong to the Christian Church if we are serious in our desire to follow Christ. But we also need to have a personal faith.

Unfortunately a lot of people who have been baptised have not understood the further and essential need to put their trust in Christ. That to live a Christian life is an ongoing journey with him. In our reading today Jesus tells us that it’s not enough just to believe in him, we must also live our lives for him, like the men with their houses: the one built on the solid rock stayed standing in the storms but the one built on sand collapsed.

I hope that taking part in this special service for James & Jasmine and joining in the promises and perhaps even something that we have heard today will help us all to do just this ... and encourage one another to follow Christ day by day.
Amen.