Our Baptismal Vows

This Sunday, we will observe the first Sunday after the Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John. This is one of the four days each year on which we do baptisms, the others being Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints Day.

Since no one is scheduled to be baptized on Sunday, we will all renew the promises we made at our baptism. This is a wonderful to opportunity to be reminded of what it means to be a baptized person.

The baptismal liturgy begins with a series of renunciations – we renounce the devil, all evil spirits, and the power of sin – and then culminates with the believer entrusting him or herself to God, to God’s grace and power, demonstrated on the cross and resurrection, which brings salvation. At this point the believer says the Apostles’ Creed, which affirms the basic contours of the Christian story, grounded in the One Creator God’s redemption and promised renewal of all creation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Importantly, in the Apostles’ Creed, we speak as individuals, “I believe” (or Credo, in Latin), whereas most Sundays we say the Nicene Creed, which is spoken collectively, “We believe” (or Credimus, in Latin).

The act of baptism, biblically, has (at least) two meanings. First, in baptism the believer experiences cleansing from sin, thus it is through baptism that we have assurance of God’s forgiveness (see 1 Peter 3:21). Second, in baptism the believer experiences death and rebirth, thus it is through baptism that we are identified with Christ in death, which is connected to our powerlessness in the face of sin, and then with him in his resurrection, which is connected to his victory over sin and death (see Romans 6:3-4). We are indeed new people in Christ, part of the new creation that God is bringing into being through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday, then, as we come to worship, let us rejoice that, while we were enslaved to sin, helpless in the face of death, God sent Jesus to bring forgiveness and new life. As each one of us entrusts ourselves to his grace and power, we experience forgiveness and new life at deeper and deeper levels, inhabiting a new identity as God’s beloved child. Baptism is the sacramental sign of this new life. As we renew our baptismal promises on Sunday, then, may this new life abound more and more in our midst.

Peace,

Chris