The Means of Grace: Baptism

 I want to say a word about Baptism. We connect Baptism and Communion in our minds because they are both sort of a subset of the Means of Grace. We call this category The Sacraments. These two things, Baptism and The Lord's Supper, are closely connected because of their sacramental nature. As important as all these other things are, the front line is held by Communion and Holy Baptism.

 The Wesleyan approach to Baptism is that it is undeniably a Means of Grace. Without question, the Baptism of Christian believers is instituted by Jesus. Its rank among the means of Grace is unquestioned.

 But I’m not going to spend much time on it for two reasons.

 First, it is my understanding of Baptism that everything else we do as believers is in the context of our baptism. Baptism is our initiation into the church so that we may avail ourselves of all the rest of these means of grace. Prayer, Fasting, Searching the Scriptures, Christian Conference, Communion, and all the Prudential Means of Grace (I’ll say more about this soon) are ours because we have been Baptized.

 Secondly, while all the rest of the Means of Grace are ongoing in terms of our actions, Baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. While the result, the grace, of our Baptism stays with us the rest of our lives, we don't get baptized again and again in the same way that we are called to pray without ceasing. As a matter of fact, our church expressly states that re-baptism is not our practice.

 The United Methodist Church practices three modes of Baptism: immersion, affusion (or pouring), and aspersion (or sprinkling).  Some communions practice total immersion exclusively.  This is the practice of completely submerging the candidate in water.  We don’t see examples of affusion very often in our area of the country.  But the practice is to have an adult bend over the baptismal font, or for the presider to hold a child or infant over the font and then pour water in such a way that it flows across the head of the candidate and drops into the font.  Aspersion – sprinkling in the common vocabulary – has the presider put a small amount of water on the head of the candidate.

 The United Methodist Church holds that all of these methods are valid.  Local tradition plays a large part in making the decision of how to administer the waters of Baptism.

 The United Methodist Church baptizes infants and young children as a practice of grace.  Responsible adults receive Baptism upon their profession of faith.

 As an aside, The United Methodist Church does not “christen.”  I have yet to see a bottle of Champaign smashed upon someone.  We christen boats.  We baptize people.  The christening of children is an act of dedication in denominations that do not baptize infants.  It is a way of recognizing the birth of a child but acknowledges their belief that only those who have professed faith are legitimate candidates for baptism.

 We DO have a service for baptismal renewal, and it is a wonderful observance.  But, part of the rubrics (instructions) for that ritual state, “water may be administered in a way that cannot be interpreted as baptism.”  Again, re-baptism (as if there was such a thing) is not our practice.

 So, moving forward, “Remember your baptism, and be thankful.”