The public reaffirmation of baptism is a beautiful thing

(and for Methodists, is a GREAT alternative to rebaptism)

If you hang around the Methodist world for very long, you soon learn that we very annoyingly do not “re-baptize” people if they ask us to, for reasons rooted in our sacramental theology.

Why is this? Well, it’s basically because we believe that baptism is primarily what God does for us, and what God does once he doesn’t have to do a second time. Like the covenant sign of circumcision in the Old Testament, once it’s done, it’s done.

Baptism is the sacrament that unites our life to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; it incorporates us into the body of Christ, the church; its water washing us is the sign of washing away of sins; and it is the moment when God is claiming us as his son or daughter by the Holy Spirit. And because this is all what God does for us, not what we do for ourselves, we do not believe that it should be (or really and truly can be) repeated.

Most Methodist pastors after explaining this will very quickly say that we do not therefore believe baptism is a ticket into heaven, a kind of magical ceremony that confers salvation to the individual. The infant who is baptized is called to respond to the grace given at their baptism in a response of faith, a living faith that is a lifelong journey of trust in Jesus, a journey of faith that we call sanctification (you can see the letter to my infant son before his baptism here). Baptism is merely the beginning of that pilgrimage with God, whether it’s an infant or an adult getting baptized.

And yet!

For so many people who were baptized as an infant or were baptized so young that they didn’t know what was happening, they long for a way to publicly re-dedicate their life to God. This is especially true for people who reject God and leave the church for a season of life. They long to stand before the people and before God, and say who I have been is not who I am anymore! I am not defined by my past, I am defined by who God calls me to be. I am forgiven! I am a new man, a new woman! And they long to hear the Father’s voice speaking over them, as he did over Jesus in his baptism, saying, “This is my son, this is my daughter, the one I love.” They long to be re-grafted into the church, to be embraced after a long time away.

For folks in our churches, there is a beautiful way to do this without re-baptizing, that I think we need to practice and invite people to do: instead of “re-baptizing”, we should heartily, happily, and with gusto, reaffirm baptism, in a way that doesn’t confuse our people about what we are doing.

I recently found a really well written service of reaffirmation of baptism that does just this (in full below), cowritten by my old worship teacher at Duke Divinity, Lester Ruth, and another professor of Christian worship, Mark Stamm. I just recently used it for the first time with my congregation, and it was a beautiful, holy service to celebrate when someone comes back home to life with God.

The person coming for reaffirmation was a college student named Mackenzie who attends our church, and she felt God calling her back into faith after what had been a long time of wandering. She at first wanted to be re-baptized, having been baptized as a child; but we talked through what our church believed about baptism, and she soon became excited about the idea of reaffirming her baptism with the congregation.

This was the part of the reaffirmation when you anoint with oil and pray over the person reaffirming their baptism.

The way the service works is you bring the person before the church and ask them the baptismal questions. You then can hear testimony from the person whose baptism is being reaffirmed, which we did (it was maybe the most moving part of the service).

After this, you read John 13:1-17, which tells the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, and of Peter, who wants to be washed all over (in a sense, re-baptized), and Jesus gently tells him that he doesn’t need that; he only needs his feet washed.

Next, you sit the person down and use water from the baptismal font to wash their feet. After this, you anoint their head with oil and pray over them. After all of this, you stand the person up, and you and the congregation and God and all of heaven and earth applaud, because it is just so good to welcome someone back home.

This is exactly what happened at our church, and there was hardly a dry eye in the building. In some ways, it is a simple service. In other ways, it is a profound act of God’s grace, a powerful sign of God’s kingdom breaking out. The service declares that, though we turned away and our love failed, God’s love, poured out on us in our baptism, remains steadfast.

The Wesleyan movement is one that has tried to hold together disparate strands of the Christian tradition, and synthesize them. Faith and works; the beauty of liturgy and the passion of spontaneous expression; the energy of revivalism and the intellect of catechism. In some sense this paradox is what we should expect when a priggish, Anglican Oxford don has a Pentecostal epiphany of the heart. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how everything fits together, but it’s often a beautiful mess. John Wesley’s legacy, in some ways, was to help bring the beautiful strands of Christian orthodoxy together, joining what never should have been severed into a kind of living paradox, one that recent divisions show is a hard one to always get right. I think we have a similar calling when it comes to baptism.

With very real love and respect to my fellow Christians in other traditions (seriously, I love them Baptists), I am a firm believer in not “rebaptizing” people, because I am convinced of the grace, beauty, and what I would call orthodoxy of the theology underpinning infant baptism. I think refusing to do rebaptism is also a helpful corrective against the very individualistic, consumeristic leanings of the American church. It is sometimes good for us Americans to hear the church say, no, that is not what we do, and we’re not going to change the rules for you. I also more importantly believe not rebaptizing is a faithful interpretation of scripture, the church fathers, the Reformers, and Wesley—which for me means I think it’s the right call.

But when someone is responding to God, and being called back home, we have got to be the first people to stand up and celebrate, to pray, to applaud, to anoint. If we don’t do it, who will? It’s also incredibly fun. I think baptismal reaffirmation, in the service below or in one like it, could be a great way for the Wesleyan movement to not miss what God is doing in our people’s lives, while also holding true to our sacramental life. I certainly hope those of us in the Global Methodist Church adopt it. I hope we all can creatively and publicly and heartily say yes with people (affirm them) when they say yes to God. That, after all, is what this business called church is all about.

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Service found on https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/a-new-ritual-for-reaffirmation-of-baptism:

Reaffirmation of Faith for Someone Seeking Rebaptism

SUBMITTED BY LESTER RUTH AND MARK STAMM

Note: This rite intends to address a common pastoral situation: a request by someone to be rebaptized. It seeks to address with a bold sign-act the person’s desire for public witness to her or his Christian discipleship without, as Baptismal Covenant IV currently says, using water in ways that can be interpreted as baptism. By moving the location of the application of the water to the feet and by connecting this act with verses from John 13, this rite hopes to find the sweet spot between having something organically connected to baptism without being confused for the same.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERVICE

Brothers and sisters in Christ:
Through the sacrament of baptism
we have been initiated into Christ’s holy church.
We have been incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation
And have been given new birth through water and the Spirit.
All this is God’s gift, offered to use without price.

Through the public acknowledgement of faith,
We renew the covenant declared at our baptism,
acknowledge what God is doing for us in Jesus Christ,
and affirm our commitment to Christ’s holy church and the way of discipleship.

Pastor: I present Name(s) who come(s) to reaffirm their faith in Jesus Christ today.

The rite can proceed at this point by providing an opportunity for testimony from the person seeking to publicly reaffirm his/her faith.

If a congregation wishes to add a congregational reaffirmation of the baptismal covenant to this individual’s public witness, then the following can be addressed to the entire congregation. If no congregational reaffirmation is intended, then the questions can be addressed solely to the individual making the public witness.

On behalf of the whole church, I ask you:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?
I do.
Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
I do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?
I do.

The pastor addresses the following questions to the individual making the public witness of discipleship as well as the church.

According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world?
I will.
Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and include one another in mutual care, love, and forgiveness, and service to others?
We will.
Will you pray for one another and the world, that we may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life?
We will.

The pastor continues:

Let us join together in professing the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, [who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.]
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit, [the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.]

Reading: John 13:1-17 (if not read earlier in the worship service)

Standing at the baptistery and facing those wanting to reaffirm their faith, the pastor says: Remember your baptism and be thankful. Amen.

The pastor then washes the feet of those wanting to publicly reaffirm their faith, preferably using some or all of the water in the baptistery to do so. Immediately after, those whose feet have been washed now wash the feet of two other members of the congregation, including someone who is a close acquaintance of the reaffirming person and one who is not. It is fitting for this sign-act to be accompanied by congregational song, especially with songs easily learned by ear.

After the foot washing, the pastor, and others if desired, may place hands on the head of each person whose feet have been washed, perhaps using scented oil to anoint these persons’ heads, saying:

The Holy Spirit work within you, that having been born through water and the Spirit, you may live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen.

When there is a congregational reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant, at this point water may be used symbolically in ways that cannot be interpreted as baptism. Such ways of using water include the following:

• Members of the congregation are given the chance to have their feet washed and to wash the feet of others.

• Members of the congregation may be invited to touch the water and, if desired, touch their foreheads with a moistened finger.

• The pastor may scoop up a handful of water and let it flow back into the font so that it is heard and seen, saying, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.”

• The pastor may touch the water and mark each person on the forehead with the sign of the cross.

The rite may conclude with a congregational song interpreting the significance of the occasion such as Swee Hong Lim’s “Love Consecrates the Humblest Act.”

It is most fitting that the service continue with Holy Communion.