For Further Reflection and Discussion
- The author, Apostle Susan Skoor, says too many children go through baptism without fully understanding
the grace they receive and the commitment they make. What happens when a person enters the waters before being spiritually ready? - At 8 years old, are children capable of understanding the sacrament? All children?
- How can we help children better understand the connection between baptism and Communion?
- Why is it important to pray for people, regardless of age, after they are baptized?
- In many ways, baptism is about relationship. It changes the way we think and interact with God, loved ones, even strangers. Review Doctrine and Covenants 164. How does it address relationships?
- How does baptism change the way we see others? Ourselves?
- How does baptism relate to the Enduring Principle of responsible choices?
- Section 164:5 says, “Through the gospel of Christ a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God.” How do you see this in your congregation? In yourself?
- Apostle Skoor describes the risks people in some countries face by being baptized. Does this change the depth of meaning in their baptisms?
- What risks do people in places like North America, Australia, or western Europe take in being baptized?
It's More than Getting Wet
by Susan Skoor,
Council of Twelve Apostles
Herald, December 2010
It is imperative to understand that when you are truly baptized into Christ you become part of a new creation. By taking on the life and mind of Christ, you increasingly view yourselves and others from a changed perspective. Former ways of defining people by economic status, social class, sex, gender, or ethnicity no longer are primary. Through the gospel of Christ a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God. —Doctrine and Covenants 164:5
Gentle raindrops splashed onto the shallow creek at Lewis River Campgrounds in Yacolt, Washington, as Seventy Kent Wheeler inserted a wooden barrier to hold back the water.
My 6-year-old granddaughter, Grace, and I watched the creek level rise enough to provide water for three baptisms. Ty, one of the youngsters being baptized, came by. “Why do you want to be baptized?” I asked. His answer was prompt and firm. “I want to follow Jesus, and be able to do the things that Jesus did. I want to help poor people.”
Later, he read a statement that spelled out clearly what he was promising to do as a follower of Jesus. He impressed me. For Ty, being baptized was a lot more than getting wet. It was the start of a journey with Jesus, a transformation that would last a lifetime. That day, Ty was “truly baptized.”
Although Community of Christ has a firm policy that a child must receive classes before baptism, too many of our 8-year-old children simply go through the form without understanding its meaning.
Immersion at the age of 8 with the correct words is not enough. Baptism requires choice, commitment, repentance, and a transformed life of discipleship. Today’s children face challenges unheard of in the 1830s, when the church set up our age of accountability.
Many 8-year-olds need added maturity, insight, and exploration to understand the results of their decisions. The age of 8 is only a minimal threshold. Parents and pastors can help children understand the seriousness of the symbols and meanings of baptism and choose the right age for expressing their commitment to Jesus.
In baptism, we symbolically are laid in a watery grave, to die to the old ways of living. We are reborn as we surface, resurrected to a life of following Jesus Christ.
This is no “Disneyland” experience. It is a deeply moving, transformative moment of significance and lifelong commitment. We all know people who have faced physical death and survived. The experience changes them. They embrace life with enthusiasm and joy, grateful for the gift of each new day and committed to making their life mean something.
So it is with baptism. All of us who have been truly baptized already have died once. Our old life has ended, and God gives us new life, new joy, new hope in Christ. In response, we offer back to God the new life so freely given. Each Communion service, we remember we already have died once and live again by the grace of God.
New life provides new eyes to recognize our brothers and sisters of all races, all genders, all ages as beloved children of God, alight with the Spirit that only God can give. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV).
In a question-and-answer session at a congregation, a young man—recently married to a church member—asked a question. “Last Sunday I was
baptized,” he said. “Does that mean I must give up drinking alcohol?” “Did you truly mean it, when you repented and committed your life to Jesus?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then God accepts you as a person of worth exactly the way you are. It is not my place to judge you or require you to change to be a person of worth in God’s eyes.” After a stunned silence, the congregation applauded. Then I continued.
“All of us have habits that keep us from being all God wants us to be. God’s grace and love are larger than we can imagine. In response, we try to grow and become the best disciples possible. That often means making difficult decisions to give up habits that get in the way of living out the kingdom of God. It definitely means putting aside habits that damage relationships.”
The young man came to me later. “I understand,” he said. “Being baptized was my first choice. All my other choices must follow. Please pray for me as I make this change.”
True baptism results in transformation. We take on the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, and that will change our habits of thinking, seeing, loving, and giving, especially in our relationships with family, friends, and strangers.
Relationships are at the heart of the gospel and at the heart of Doctrine and Covenants 164. From the beginning of time, God’s Spirit has prompted people to live in whole, healthy relationships.
The Ten Commandments, the injunctions of the prophets to live justly, the beatitudes, and Jesus’ teachings of the kingdom of God point toward relationships built on Christ-like love, mutual respect, responsibility, justice, covenant, and faithfulness. These principles are the foundation of the gospel story and God’s work of resurrection within the human soul, within communities, and within creation.
These are the principles that will never end. Over time, they will stand firm against all laws, guidelines, prejudice, and oppression.
Humans learn prejudice and oppression from their birth. We establish identity in part by classifying and excluding those who are different. As we mature, individually and as a community, we must learn new ways of seeing others.
We put aside barriers of gender, sexuality, culture, language, and social status. We overcome the fear of others and find Christ’s Spirit in those who seem different. It is a journey of trust in the goodness of others and in God’s ability to unite us in our diversity.
Too often we think and act as if putting aside prejudice to embrace those who are radically different is a lowering of moral or ethical standards, or a diluting of cultural identity. Doctrine and Covenants 164:6b reminds us that removing barriers that categorize and exclude people does not mean tolerating selfish, irresponsible, promiscuous, degrading, or abusive behavior.
Prejudice would say to us, “Those who are different automatically are guilty of selfishness, promiscuity, and abuse. Therefore they are unacceptable to God and to me.”
Justice demands, “You must examine yourselves to see how you are guilty of self-seeking, irresponsible relationships and abuse camouflaged by socially acceptable excuses.”
Grace would say, “God knows all there is to know about you, and loves you unconditionally. Experience God’s grace, and you will be transformed. In response, you will put away the habits and behaviors that hurt others.”
Jesus preached and lived out the principles of the kingdom. Some ideas Jesus taught about the kingdom of God seem confusing. It is within you, it’s here, it’s among you, it’s coming. How can all those things be true?
Consider two worlds. We live in a world God created and called good. But because of irresponsible choices by human beings, it is a broken world. Sin, death, grief, conflict, war, disease, poverty, injustice, hatred, violence, and confusion have entered this world. They are a part of our life experience.
God is with us in this broken world, walking with us through pain and joy, grief and celebration. But being with us is not the limit of God’s grace. Jesus taught that God also has
prepared a new world, a future Jesus called the reign of God.
God’s new world overflows with love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, new life, and resurrection. Peace, justice, hope, and joy characterize God’s reign.
Where the influence of the coming reign of God overlaps into this world, it is possible to experience the qualities of the new creation. When we are baptized, we step into that space where God’s reign overlaps this broken world and transforms it.
By joining in the work God does in this world, we push the boundaries of the kingdom further out, into the broken world, transforming ourselves and our communities.
Built on solid principles and wholesome relationships that reflect Christ’s love and God’s grace, the new creation takes shape in the mission and outreach of people around the world. Lives transform, communities change, and the gospel light shines clear.
As with Ty, each of us is called to claim our baptism and help promote God’s kingdom. “Through the gospel of Christ a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 164:5).