The Baptism of Jesus. It’s recorded in all 4 of the gospels, which tells us how significant this event was to the writers of the gospels, and so for the people of the early church to know about. For Christians, baptism is considered a sacrament. What does this mean actually? What is a sacrament anyway?
The classic definition, and now I’m quoting our older Anglican ‘Book of Common Prayer’ (BCP), a sacrament is ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual grace’[1]. Sacraments are the means by which God’s grace comes to us, given to us by Christ himself. [2] Sacraments are those things which we consider sacred or holy -- because they come from God, through the Holy Spirit. They are God’s gifts to us; that’s what God’s grace is, God’s gift—given to us freely. The sacraments are how ‘God reaches out and offers [Godself] to us through Jesus Christ by the activity of [God’s] Holy Spirit.’[3]
- Baptism is seen by all denominations of Christians as a primary sacrament, what is the other one? Holy Eucharist also known as Holy Communion. The Anglican Church is a sacramental church, a church that believes the grace of God comes to us in other ways and means too. So, pop quiz. How many sacraments are there traditionally in the Anglican Church? (Seven) And so what are the other five?
- Confirmation,
- Penance (confession & absolution); Reconciliation of a Penitent
- Holy Matrimony
- Holy Unction (laying on of hands and anointing with holy oil, often done with those very sick/dying)
- Holy Orders. In the Anglican tradition, Holy Orders and Confirmation are conferred only by Bishops, the others are conferred only by priests, or in some situations, by Deacons or Lay People only by express consent of the Bishop.
Where can you find this information about sacraments? In our 2 prayer books, there are services for all of them! Let’s go back to the first or primary sacrament that God gave us through Jesus. What does it mean to be baptized? More specifically, what does baptism mean for Anglicans? The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) tells us that: "Baptism is the sign of new life in Christ and unites Christ with his people."[4] That’s who Christians are, people whose lives are united in Christ, people who make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. So you could say it is who we are.
When we meet someone for the first time in just about any kind of social setting, what’s the first thing we ask them? Well, their name is always a good start. What does that tell you? Well, for starters, what to call them. What about their last name, their surname? When you know their last name, and particularly in small towns, you know who they ‘belong’ to. So when you say you’re a Christian, it tells people something about your beliefs, about the kind of person you are.
I was born in Toronto, raised in Burlington moved up here and married a local guy, with a name people recognized, and when I got married I chose to take Todd as my last name. I remember the first time I was asked “Who were you before you were married.” The question floored me, I didn’t understand it, what it was they where trying to get at. What do you mean who was I? I’m the same person I was before I was married! I just had a husband now. My city person’s brain didn’t understand where that question was coming from. It wasn’t that I had changed who I was, but when I changed my last name, they didn’t know what family I had come from. And in typical small town/country style, by knowing who my family was, they would know something about me. Because, the family we belong to forms us, molds us into what we become, into who we are. When we are baptized, we are brought together into the family of Christ, the family of Christians. “Baptism is the sacramental beginning of the Christian Life.”[5] And our branch of that Christian family is Anglican, and when people know that you’re Anglican, they know a little more about who we are and what an how we believe. They know, for example that we baptize infants in our family, which is something that not every branch of Christianity does.
“The outward part of baptism is the water in which a person is baptized ‘in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit’. What cannot be seen is the ‘inward and spiritual grace’ or what God is giving to, or doing for the recipient. We can describe the inward part of baptism as a new birth, for it is the beginning of a new life as a child of God in the family of the church. ”[6] When we bring children to be baptized we make a commitment to bring them up to understand God's purpose for the world and to encourage them and to teach them to participate in bringing about this purpose. To be a baptized Christian means we make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. This means that we are willing to let go of our old ways of seeing ourselves and others. We make a conscious decision to respect ourselves and others, to grow in our ability to live in harmony with others, and to forgive when others hurt us. We believe that we have a responsibility to resist evil in our own lives and to work to transform our society into a caring family which is centered on Christ's passionate love for the world. It’s all those things our parents promised on our behalf if we were baptized as infants, and what we say again when we reaffirm our baptismal vows.
Being baptized into Christ’s church means that we are Children of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus, and we know that we are loved by God. Baptism teaches us who we are – God’s beloved children[7]. God’s love in unconditional; that means that nothing we do can make God love us more, or love us less. God loves us no matter what we do; we can’t earn God’s love, or lose God’s love.
That’s what the sacraments are for; they are the physical reminders of God’s unconditional love, given by God to Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him …. And a voice came from heaven “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” [Luke 3. 21-22]
Anglicans are a sacramental people, and we worship with those sacraments as outlined in our prayer books. The BCP and the BAS have within them the tenants of our faith-those things which we believe to be true. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus the Christ, and we are beloved by God. Amen
[1] BCP page 550 [2] BCP page 550 [3] Baycroft, John. The Anglican Way (ABC Publishing: Toronto, 1980) page 21 [4] BAS, page 146 [5] Baycroft; 21 [6] Baycroft; 21 [7] Lose, David,“Preaching a More Meaningful Baptism”. Posted on www.workingpreacher.org, accessed Jan 7, 2012.