FROM THE PULPIT
Easter is traditionally the time when catechumenate’s were baptised. They
would have prepared for some time before this life changing moment. To be
baptised was and, of course, still is a moment of renewal and of hope. It is
the sacrament that points to the heart of the Easter story – the story of dying
and rising to new life. It is sadly all too typical of how the church has
hardened its spiritual arteries that often baptism become associated with a
particular denomination or church set up. In this regard, the theologian
Dorothy Soelle talks about an experience she had in Brazil:
In Rio a group of Christians was working with street children, of
whom there are 25 million in Brazil. Every day boys from the
street got together at one spot to chat, to discuss their problems
and to share their fears and anger with one another. Many came
regularly. The church people consisted of a Catholic priest, a
Methodist, a priest of the Umbanda occult, a Presbyterian and a
young Lutheran pastor.
One day one of the boys said: “I would like to be baptised.”
“In which church, then?” asked the catholic.
“Which church? In ours here, of course.”
“But to which church building would you like to go?”
“Building? No, to our church, here in the street. I want to be
baptised here among us.”
The Methodist said he couldn’t issue a certificate. The Catholic
thought it wouldn’t be possible to perform jointly with the man
from the Umbanda religion. The boy stuck by his wish. Finally the
pastor organised the necessary things: he laid a board over two
crates and filled an old boot with water for flowers, which the
children provided. The Catholic brought along a candle. The
baptism took place on the street, in the name of Jesus Christ.
This story, of course, echoes one from the Book of Acts where an Ethiopian
official, having had an opportunity to hear the gospel, sees a puddle (or some
body of water) on his travels and asks his travelling companion, Philip, (who
was the one explaining the Scriptures) why he couldn’t be baptised. No
reason whatsoever. And so it happened.
Easter is the time of liberation and baptism emblematizes that liberty. Too
often we seek to attempt to control the work and mission of God. Sometimes
we do it because we wish to preserve the dignity of a particular tradition. This
is perfectly understandable, but it misses the point, that we are confronted
today with the day of salvation. We are not to play fast and loose with the
love and mercy of God, but we must not constrain God’s liberating power as
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