Not really. We’re not selling baptisms at Calvary. But I am baptizing 4 or 5 (or more?) college students tomorrow afternoon out at the pond at Harvest Fields.
Most, if not all, of the students are young women, completing their senior year at Penn State. They’ve been part of the Calvary family, and want to end their time at Penn State with a public declaration of their commitment to Jesus Christ. Each one of these young ladies have experienced a renewal in their lives, and want to express their new life in Jesus by baptism.
The last baptisms I performed happened last October, when I got to baptize 4 of my children. Talk about an emotional day! And just like last October, the pond is going to be chilly tomorrow. Why can’t people decide to get baptized in July?
As I talked with the young ladies Sunday after church, a couple of them expressed that they had been baptized as infants. It was kind of interesting, in that we dedicated 2 babies at Calvary last Sunday. I always make a point to remind people that infant dedication/baptism don’t really hold any magical power for the salvation of the babies; we dedicate children as an act of hope, asking the Lord to work in the lives and families to bring them to faith in Christ Jesus when they are old enough to understand what that means.
I myself was baptized twice. Yep, twice. I prayed “the prayer” when I was 6 years old, but I didn’t have a clue what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. When I made a commitment to follow Christ as a 9th grader, I realized that my 6 year old self only got wet; I hadn’t experienced a life-changing decision to follow Jesus. So I asked the church to baptise me again for the first time!
That’s what baptism is, you know. It’s a public declaration of the work that Jesus has done inside you. We baptise by immersion for a couple of reasons. First, because that’s how Jesus was baptized (Mark 1:10.) There’s also the incredible symbolism of the person going under the water representing death to the old self, and rising from the water representing the new life in Christ.
The picture of us being immersed in the life of Jesus resonates with me, and is a much more Biblical image than the idea that I heard when I was growing up: Asking Jesus into your heart. That seems too small a thing to me. I want to throw myself into the Life of Jesus, to be flooded by his grace and love, to be covered completely by his Spirit, to be overwhelmed by him. Nothing hidden, nothing held back, no part of me not touched and transformed by Jesus…that’s what baptism represents.
Have you been baptized? If you’d like to declare your faith in Jesus and testify to his saving grace, I’d be more than happy to meet you at the pond!
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