Baptism Decision

THE DECISION

First of all, may I extend a special word of welcome to the Mongey family and their friends who have come here for the baptism of Jessica Louise.

In particular, a special word of welcome to Jessica's parents, David and Joanna and to Elizabeth, Caroline and Peter who are Jessica's godparents.

It is to you, Jessica's parents and godparents, that I address this sermon today.

In a few minutes time, I shall ask you three questions which you must answer yourselves and for Jessica, because she is obviously far too young to know what is happening lo her this morning.

The questions are:

Do you turn to Christ?

Do you repent of your sins? and

Do you renounce evil?

To which you will reply:

I turn to Christ.

I repent of my sins, and

I renounce evil.

I do hope you will make your responses loudly and clearly. After all, being a parent or godparent is a very important responsibility and if you are ashamed of what you will be saying, then, to put it bluntly, you should not be here today seeking for Christian baptism.

But you are here, so I am assuming you are serious about your intentions as regards Jessica's future Christian formation.

Well then, what do these promises mean which you are about to make?

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First of all, "I turn to Christ".

You have chosen to introduce Jessica to the Christian way of life.

You could easily have chosen to go to the Roman Catholic or the Orthodox Church - but you have chosen the Christian way of life as expressed through the teaching and practice of the Church of England.

Nowadays, parents often say "I shall let my child decide which religious faith they want to practice and not decide for them". Such an approach, I would suggest does a disservice to the child. Its rather like a child saying "I've got a headache" and handing the child the medicine cabinet and expecting them to choose which drug to take to get rid of the headache!

Whilst I do not wish to deny the validity of the religious experiences of other faiths, such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and so on, I do believe a child needs to be given a yardstick from which to judge the validity of other religious experiences. In other words, it is spiritually dangerous for a child to grow up in a religious vacuum.

Obviously, Jessica will need to decide for herself in due time whether or not she wants to follow the Christian way of life. She will have that opportunity when she considers confirmation. That may be in her teens, but more than likely to be in adulthood. It is never too late, and this important stage in a person's spiritual development should never be hurried and certainly not influenced by peer group pressure. The oldest person I have prepared for confirmation was 81 years of age. So there is no hurry.

For the present, you have decided that Jessica should be introduced to the Christian way of life and today you are making that intention public when you say before everybody here "I turn to Christ".

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And now we turn to your response to that intention. The second reply will be "I repent of my sins".

What does that mean for you and Jessica who has not yet had the opportunity of exploring the pandora's box of exciting sins?

The word "repent" implies an awareness of being guilty, of being ashamed of oneself and of resolving to mend one's ways. And there is no doubt, that when we compare our lives with that of Jesus Christ, who we claim to follow, our lives often leave much to be desired. We are only too well aware of how much we fall short of the person we are seeking to follow.

Some years ago, I remember standing by the graveside in Liverpool in winter time conducting a funeral. I was wearing what I consider to be a white surplice, but when I compared it with the whiteness of the snow on the ground, I became aware just how grubby it really was. And it is when we compare our lives with that of Jesus Christ we become aware of just how grubby our lives are.

So part of repentance is obviously an awareness of guilt, and a sense of shame and a resolve to do better.

But it is much more than that as William Vanstone points out in his recent book "Fare Well in Christ". The Greek word from which the word repent comes is mentanoia. This word has a much broader meaning than just being sorry. It means "a change of mind", it includes "having second thoughts of any matter at all" and "seeing in a different light" any kind of situation.

He uses the illustration of a person planning to go to the bank next Monday but being reminded that it is a Bank Holiday. Accordingly, that person changes their plans. This he suggests is an instance of mentanoia - of "seeing the situation in a different light". However, it would be misleading to say that the person "repented" of his or her original plan.

And so the word mentanoia which is badly translated for repent, means that as a result of your "turning to Christ" you undertake to see things in a different light.

For instance, no longer is life seen only in terms of the biblical three score years and ten upon this earth, but in terms of eternity. No longer is the life of Jessica seen as a product of the love between David and Joanna but as being also a gift from God and therefore as being sacred and holy. No longer is life lived only for one's immediate pleasure and satisfaction, but in relationship to other people and to God to whom we are responsible and to whom we will be held accountable.

Repentance means that we see things in a different light because of what we believe.

This can sometimes bring us into conflict with the secular view of life and we may often find ourselves having to make decisions which may go against the grain of contemporary life.

So repentance is not just about sorrow for the past, its also about seeing things in a different light and so you are making a promise about the kind of life you are proposing to live in the future.

After all, there is no better way of influencing Jessica's Christian formation than by example whereby you see things in a different light. This is much more positive than breast beating about the past, and is the result of your first promise to turn to Christ.

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As a consequence of seeing things in a different light, you will reply to the third question "I renounce evil".

In other words, you are turning your back upon a life which was previously focused upon self interest, and accepting a new way of life which is focused upon Jesus Christ.

After all, if we love a person, we try and live a life which is pleasing to them.

Can you still remember what it was like when you first fell in love? Do you remember how you tried to give pleasure to your partner by living a life which would give them pleasure? Do you remember how willingly and joyfully you gave up your former way of life in to make them happy?

So "we renounce evil". We renounce our former way of life and accept a new way of life which is focused upon Jesus. A way of life which we hope will give him pleasure as an expression of our love for him.

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So, when as parents and godparents you make your decision this morning to "turn to Christ", you will be accepting the Christian way of life. When you respond to that decision and decide to "repent of your sins" you will be expressing, not only sorrow for your past sins, but also more importantly, "undertaking to see things in a different light". And as a consequence of that decision, when you decide to "renounce evil" you will be turning your back upon your past life in which you sought to please yourself, and living a new life which seeks to give pleasure.