Reason 1: I'm in a new city, with new people, going to seminary. I want people to be updated. There are so many people out there who love and support me. People who are praying for me and who call me or e-mail me to check on me. I want them to be updated and to let them know that first, I'm alive and well. I'm thriving. I've never known God to be so amazing. (I knew He was but seminary is a whole new ball game...) Second, I do appreciate everyone and all that they have done for me and given me.
Reason 2: I spoke with one of my pastors about doing this before I left. He seemed to think it was a good idea. It might give me a way to work things out in writing. But how do you work things out when you have to censor yourself? Like I said earlier, there are some things that don't need to be shouted from the rooftops until you are ready to share them and have throughly thought them through. (Try saying that last part three times fast...) But maybe it will give me an outlet. I don't know who is reading this and I'm not sure that anyone will... I don't really read other peoples blogs on a regular basis, only when I think about it. So why should I assume that people will read mine? Well, I guess I should assume that no one will and I do this only for myself.
I just turned in a paper on baptism. Infant baptism. I believe in it; that's not to say that adult baptism isn't great, it is but it's not the only option. But is it an option, you ask, if you don't choose it? Well then, let me put it this way, you're already a child of God, you don't get a choice there. The choice you have is whether or not you're going to live that part out. That's where that darned thing called "free will" comes into play. (It's great but sometimes I want to kick myself for how it plays out sometimes.)
In infant baptism, someone else makes a choice to take part in a sacrament that is an outward symbol that we are claimed by God at birth. They make a promise to care for the child, and make a covenant with God that they will raise the child to know and love God; they take on the responsibility to raise the child ethically and in God's love to know and understand God and to become an active participate in their own baptism. Yes, I said active participant.
When you're baptized, it's only the beginning of your ministry (yes, YOUR ministry). Jesus began his minstry when he was baptized, so let's get on with it. I perfer to get started early. Your baptism is not complete until your death. So, those people, that community that you are involved in, are making a covenant with God (not a contract or simply a promise, but a covenant), that they will take on all the responsibility for you, teach you how to be responsible with God and your relationship with Him, and then empower you to do the same as them for others after you. Personally, I find that pretty big and hard to wrap my head around.
When I think of my own baptism, I think of the stories I was told. My grandparents were there, my parents, my older sister. And all the people that I have grown up with in my life. Those people made a promise to love me and care for me. And they did just that. Sure, people don't always do such a good job, probably because they don't understand the responsibility that comes with baptising someone. When an audlt gets baptized, they can make their own deicisons, it's less of a community effort and more about the individual being washed clean into a new life with Chirst. Well, I hate to break it to them, but Christ was always there, they just had to look for him.
I love it when people say, "I didn't have Christ in my life until so and so..." Um, he was there. Yep, sure as my dog is blind, he was always there.
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