REFLECTION 12 JANUARY 2025 

BAPTISM, IS IT STILL RELEVANT IN THIS DAY AND AGE? 

By Rev Dr Fei Taule’ale’ausumai 

I told you the story about my inquisitive father asking me why our church youth camp was being held down by the sea.  He asked whether it was deliberate for the purpose of carrying out full immersion baptisms.  I replied yes that was so, and he basically said he would be extremely disappointed with me if I went ahead and got re-baptised.  Stating that when he and my mum stepped forward and offered me up for baptism as a baby that that was them stepping out in faith on my behalf and that they knew that one day when I was old enough to understand I would confirm their vows with my own.  He said there is only one baptism, he made that very clear.  For me, I was quite amazed being the judgemental charismatic Christian that I was back then.  Wow! I thought, my parents are actually Christians I thought it was all religious tradition and culture and that the personal relationship with Jesus Christ did not exist.  I was judging my parents by the evangelical standards that I was being taught in Bible Class by my Bible College of NZ teachers.   

About 20 years ago my nieces wanted to get baptised in their church Community Christian fellowship CCF in someone’s backyard swimming pool.  They invited me to attend which I did, they asked my mum if she would get baptised with them, my mum being the gracious grandmother she was agreed and I watched all three of them get baptised one after the other in the same pool.  People were singing praises and applauding this act of faith.  As a minister myself I just thought, yeah each to their own.  It is not up to me to judge or comment, I don’t have a monopoly on baptism or faith practice.  My nieces were never baptised as infants their parents had them dedicated and when they were old enough they chose their own time for their baptisms.   

Many denominations also choose this trajectory for their babies.  I had a woman ring me about real estate late last year in response to an online form that I had completed.  She saw that I was a reverend doctor and after we had talked business she asked me if she could ask me a personal but professional question.  She said, my 12 year old daughter had asked her about baptism, whether she needed to get baptised.  She said they were born again Christians but did not attend any church.  She asked me what I believed, did her daughter need to be baptised, for example the Catholics believe that all infants need to be baptised in case of accidental or sudden death, that they won’t be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven if they haven’t been baptised.  After a short conversation about different denominational traditions I said to her “I believe in a God who welcomes all children into their arms regardless of whether they were baptised or not”  What God would be so cruel as to reject the most innocent of all babies over a religious pre-requisite or law?  My God was compassionate and inclusive.  She breathed a sigh of relief and said, thank you I was hoping to hear that.  She thanked me and said she may visit us here at SAOTT one day.  Is this the same type of God that you believe in too?   

Baptism means ‘a new beginning’ an initiation into a new way of life and living.  Many people have their baptismal experiences in many different way 

Virtually all Christian churches practice Baptism in one form or another. Some call it a sacrament, while others call it an ordinance. Some baptize by immersion, others by sprinkling. Some baptize infants, others only those who can articulate their beliefs. Some follow baptism with confirmation (immediately, in the case of the Orthodox churches, or several years later in other traditions) while others do not. 

Baptism in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ  

• Baptism is a sacrament that symbolizes the New Covenant, forgiveness, and a new life.  

• It is a sign of God’s grace and a response to God’s love.  

• Both infants and adults can be baptized.  

• Baptism is celebrated after the reading of the Word.  

• The sacrament involves the use of water to convey God’s grace.  

Baptism of children 

• Children should be baptized without delay, but not too quickly.  

• Parents or guardians should be active members of the congregation.  

• Parents should promise to provide guidance and nurture for their child.  

• Most babies baptized are between two and twelve months old.  

Baptism of adults  

• Adults are baptized after they profess their faith. 

• Baptism witnesses to the idea that God’s grace calls for a response of faithfulness. 

When candidating for ministry within the PCANZ you used to have to profess to baptizing infants, if you do not then your candidacy comes into question, it is the same with agreeing to the ordination of women.  Unfortunately have still a long long way to agreeing to the ordination of the LGBTQI & Transgender people.   

So for the PCANZ Baptism remains relevant as a sacrament of the church.   

 All of the gospels includes the story of Jesus’ baptism, the defining moment that marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus comes to the Jordan to participate in John’s baptism, going down into the water and coming up again. Jesus shares our humanity and participates in the experience of the people. In Mark’s telling, only Jesus sees the heavens open and the Spirit descend like a dove. Only Jesus hears the voice from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Perhaps this is why the disciples, throughout Mark’s gospel, are slow to understand who Jesus is.  

Today is Baptism of Jesus Sunday, an invitation to enter into the mystery and wonder of Baptism. Baptism is important to our identity as Christians, as it is the defining moment in which we enter into the Christian family. This day invites reflection on the relationship between God and Jesus, defined in Jesus’ baptism as special and different from all other relationships. Consider what it means that God says to each of us, “You are my beloved child.”  

Where did it all begin? 

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus instructed the disciples to baptize people of all nations. Yet even before that, Jesus was himself baptized by John in the River Jordan. 

Water and its symbolic power has been a part of Judaism since its inception. It was around the drawing of water that Isaac, Jacob, and Moses found their wives. The Israelites found their freedom through the spontaneous dividing of the Sea of Reeds.  In the times of the Temple, water was a part of the ritual that enabled Jews to enter into different chambers of that sacred place.  It would seem plausible that it was these rituals of purification that influenced John. 

Although it is not widely observed, the immersion ritual is a living part of modern Judaism.  Individuals who convert to Judaism; Jews who prepare for the Jewish New Year; and couples who are about to marry. all may immerse themselves in the ritual bath, known as the Mikveh. 

Why? What did or does the water mean? In each case of these ritual immersions (whether it was back in Temple days or today) there is an acknowledgement of a change in one’s spiritual state. From entering into sacred chambers of the Temple to entering into the holiness of marriage – one’s spiritual status changed or needed to change.  Water possesses the symbolic power to help one wipe the slate clean from spiritual condition and begin another one anew. 

It seems that John – or the people who knew of him – appreciated this symbolic power of water. 

What recent experiences have you been through that might represent for you a ‘new beginning?’.  Whatever New Year’s resolution you have made this year, how can that help connect with another person?  What difference can we make in the lives of others this year?  What baptismal experiences might happen to you this year?  

I want to conclude with a prayer I found “As you imagine we could be?”  Author unknown:  

“God, as you imagine us, how do you imagine we could be?  

For you see people we know passing through the depths of despair and surely that is not how you imagine we could be.  

You see people we know, consumed by passions and addictions, and surely that is not how you imagine we could be.  

You see people we know, who have sold themselves to their work; driven themselves into the service of some ideology, and surely that is not how you imagine we could be.  

And our God, you see families we know who are divided and distanced, and who treat each other as worthless, and have no regard for kinship and no desire to love – and surely that is not how you imagine we could be.  

God, you who created us in your image – would you re-create us as you imagine we could be?  And of all those whom we know of tarnished image would you re-imagine them.  

So may the depths of despair not drown them, and may consuming passions not destroy them, and may the recklessly-driven be saved from fatality.  

And may you call the distanced families from the north and south from the east and west, may you call them by name and give them fresh focus for communing in health-giving wholeness.  

May that be so in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq.  May that be so in Israel in Palestine, in the Gaza strip – in the whole world, and may that be so in Aotearoa, for so much divides us.   But you talk of restoration.  Restore us, our God, as you imagine we could be,  In Jesus’ name, AMEN. 

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