Baptism and the New Story

What might a Baptismal ceremony look like if it avoided the dualism and the Fall/Redemption language of traditional Christian services?

For a start, it would avoid any reference to the ritual of bringing new life or taking away sin or making the baptized a child of God.
It would avoid prayers addressed to an elsewhere God.
It would affirm universal connectedness with the Mystery we call God.
It would affirm the sacredness of human love.
It would mirror Jesus words and actions by urging parents and family to recognize their intimate connectedness with God in and through their love.
It would challenge people; this ceremony is definitely not just a social convention- and people should understand this. Sacraments are NOT comfort zones.

Baptism literally means “dipping into.” There are two significant ways of understand this. One is the dipping into or being immersed in water.

The other is from the Greek understanding of the word: Imagine someone wanting to dye cloth and dipping the cloth into a mixture, then taking it out and looking to see if the color had taken, then maybe dipping it again. In this sense, baptism is not just a one-off event. We need to constantly “dip into” the story of Jesus so that his convictions about our intimate, loving relationship with the mystery we call “God” may color our lives.

(Matthew 19:13-15) People brought little children to him, for him to lay his hand on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, “let the little children alone, and do not stop them from coming to me, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. Then he laid his hands on them.”

We all live in love. May we all continue to draw affirmation and encouragement from the faith which connects our loving with the mystery we call God and may the Spirit of Love bless us and challenge us in all that we do.