The Dark Side of Baptism

Baptisms are one of my favorite ministry privileges. Helping a person demonstrate their inner faith with an outward sign, dunking them under water, looking out at the sea of family and friends gathered to celebrate the day with them- it is just fun. I don't take baptism lightly. I tell everyone who wants to be baptized that, "anyone can put a gold ring on their left hand- but that doesn't make them married. And so it is with baptism. Baptism is a sign of nothing if there is no inner faith preceeding it." Here at New Vision Church, we also create video testimonies of each of our baptizands. It is good for all of our members to hear a story of faith. It is good for their family and friends to hear their story. And it is a good exercise to verbalize your own story of grace.

So where is the dark side to all of this? Well, it came a couple of months ago, when, after watching two baptisms at our Christmas Eve service, our daughter told us that she wanted to be baptized. Erica carefully explained the story of salvation and drew an excellent bridge illustration. Olivia understood it, but it was evident that she was more interested in the act of baptism. And I don't blame her- it looks like fun- the attention, getting dunked in the church hot tub- I would probably want it, too. But therein lies the dark side of the sacraments. They are physical, doable, and intriguing. It is possible to participate without the accompanying faith. And baptism is supposed to be a one-time deal.

So right now we are trying to figure out how to perceive the faith of a five year old. I know that even the smartest among us do not fully understand salvation, but I want her to have true faith. I want her to remember her baptism, and know that it was a meaningful symbol of inner faith. But I don't want to put down her faith and make her wait too long.