PREPARATION FOR HOLY BAPTISM

Information for those about to be baptized, their parents and their sponsors.

As you prepare for your baptism, or the baptism of your child, here are some things we need for you to do:

1. Confirm the date, time and location for the baptism service.

2. Fill out Information For Church Records And Certificates form. Please feel free to email the required information to the church office (office@mountcross.com).

3. Plan to arrive 10 minutes before the service to find your place in the church. If family or friends want a good view of the ‘action,’ they should sit towards the back. Please be aware, however, that at the Easter Vigil, the font is sometimes moved to the front of the church to accommodate the larger number of baptisms at that service.

4. On Sunday mornings, during a hymn at the beginning of the service, the pastor will indicate it is time to gather at the font. You should stand on the Narthex side of the font, facing the altar. At the Easter Vigil, baptisms take place after the Service of Light and the Service of Readings.

5. You can review the order of service (see section 2 below)

6. Please alert the sponsors they have an important part in the service (see red text section 2 below)

7. What not to do: flash photography (especially at night).

8. Please feel free to read over the other sections below, including

1 - The Basic Shape Of The Baptism Service

3 - Why baptize infants?

4 - Baptism is ordination, adoption and being born again

5 - What Martin Luther says

6 - Baptism is rescue from drowning

7 - The Role Of Sponsors

THE BASIC SHAPE OF THE BAPTISM SERVICE

God brings those who are baptized out of death and into life.

Presentation

The Holy Spirit calls and invites us to receive God’s grace.

Sponsors present those to be baptized, promise our support.

Profession of Faith

Only by God's grace can we renounce the forces of evil and the power of sin.

With the whole church, we confess our faith in the triune God.

Thanksgiving at the Font

Baptism

With thanksgiving, God's saving deeds are remembered.

Dying with Christ in baptism, the child of God is raised to new life through water and the Word.

Prayer for the Holy Spirit

Sign of the Cross

Additional signs proclaim the meaning of baptism.

We pray that the gift of the Holy Spirit sustain the baptized.

The baptized are marked with the cross of Christ forever.

Welcome

The baptized are called to follow Jesus, the light of the world.

We welcome new companions in the mission of God.

In holy baptism the triune God delivers us from the forces of evil, puts our sinful self to death, gives us new birth, adopts us as children, and makes us members of the body of Christ, the church.

The Christian community at worship celebrates God's gift of baptism in a number of ways. The sacrament itself normally takes place in the midst of the worshiping assembly as a sign that in baptism we are made one with Christ and with the whole people of God. On behalf of the whole church, we promise support to new sisters and brothers, confess the faith with them, and welcome them into the body of Christ. Water connected to the Word-God's saving promise in Jesus Christ – is at the center of the baptismal celebration.

Although a person is baptized once, the gift of baptism continues throughout a Christian's life. Instruction in the faith for a life of discipleship is part of the preparation of those who are to be baptized or their parents and sponsors. The ongoing nurture of that faith is part of the congregation's ministries of formation, education, service, and evangelical witness.

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY BAPTISM

This is the order of the baptism service in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (the red book), pages 227-231. Please note that where many options are provided here, only one will be used at each service.

1. Presentation

Candidates for baptism, sponsors, and parents gather with the ministers at the font. The assembly is seated. The presiding minister may address the assembly in these or similar words:

OPTION A: God, who is rich in mercy and love

God, who is rich in mercy and love, gives us a new birth into a living hope through the sacrament of baptism. By water and the Word God delivers us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ. We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and joined in God's mission for the life of the world.

OPTION B: In baptism our...Father frees us

In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the body of Christ. Living with Christ and in the communion of saints, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.

Sponsors for each candidate, in turn, present the candidates:

I present…first & middle name…for baptism.

The presiding minister addresses candidates who are able to answer for themselves:

Name, called by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the grace and love of God, do you desire to be baptized into Christ?

Each candidate responds:

I do.

The presiding minister addresses parents or others who bring for baptism children who are not able to answer for themselves:

Called by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the grace and love of God, do you desire to have your children baptized into Christ?

Response: I do.

The presiding minister continues:

As you bring your children to receive the gift of baptism, you are entrusted with responsibilities:

to live with them among God's faithful people,

bring them to the word of God and the holy supper,

teach them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,

place in their hands the holy scriptures,
and nurture them in faith and prayer,
so that your children may learn to trust God,
proclaim Christ through word and deed,
care for others and the world God made,
and work for justice and peace.

Do you promise to help your children grow in the Christian faith and life?

Response: I do.

The presiding minister addresses sponsors:

Sponsors, do you promise to nurture these persons in the Christian faith as you are empowered by God's Spirit, and to help them live in the covenant of baptism and in communion with the church?

Response: I do.

The presiding minister addresses the assembly:

People of God, do you promise to support name/s and pray for them in their new life in Christ?
We do.

The assembly stands.

2. Profession of Faith

The presiding minister addresses candidates for baptism as well as the parents and sponsors of young children. The assembly may join in the responses.

I ask you to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, reject sin, and confess the faith of the church. Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?

Response: I renounce them.

Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?

Response: I renounce them.

Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?

Response: I renounce them.

The presiding minister addresses the candidates and the assembly.

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, the Son of God?
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's 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,
     he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
     and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Do you believe in God 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. Amen.

3. Thanksgiving at the Font

Water may be poured into the font before or during the thanksgiving. At the font, the presiding minister begins the thanksgiving:

P The Lord be with you.
C And also with you.

P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
C It is right to give our thanks and praise.

P We give you thanks, O God, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters and by your Word you created the world, calling forth life in which you took delight. Through the waters of the flood you delivered Noah and his family, and through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery into freedom. In the river Jordan your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit. By the baptism of Jesus' death and resurrection you set us free from the power of sin and death and raise us up to live in you. Pour out your Holy Spirit, the power of your living Word, that those who are washed in the waters of baptism may be given new life. To you be given honor and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

C Amen.

The assembly may be seated.

4. Baptism

The presiding minister baptizes each candidate. Water is poured on the candidate's head, as the presiding minister says:

Name, I baptize you in the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.

After each baptism, the assembly will sometimes respond with a sung alleluia, or another acclamation.

The presiding minister continues:

P Let us pray. We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse them from sin, and raise them to eternal life. Sustain name with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever.

C Amen.

The presiding minister marks the sign of the cross on the forehead of each of the baptized. Oil prepared for this purpose may be used. As the sign of the cross is made, the minister says:

P Name, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.

C Amen.

5. Welcome

A lighted candle is given to each of the newly baptized:

P Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

The ministers and the baptismal group face the assembly.

P Let us welcome the newly baptized.
C We welcome you into the body of Christ and into the mission we share:

join us in giving thanks and praise to God
and bearing God's creative and redeeming word to all the world.

Those who have gathered at the font may return to their places.

WHY BAPTIZE INFANTS?

The first mention of baptism in the Bible occurs early in each of the four Gospels. In these accounts the colorful wilderness preacher, John the Baptist, lifts his strident voice to call a self-righteous but beleaguered populace to repentance and baptizes those who respond. It catches on like wildfire. Soon "all Jerusalem" parades to the Jordan River to be baptized by the man who lives off the land and dresses in animal skin.

John's water baptism symbolized cleansing; the decision to be baptized initiated a changed life for contrite adults. But to claim that God, through baptism, actually changes an infant's relationship to himself in our day, as some Christian churches teach, seems fantasyland to many people.

Today, however, probably at least 85 percent of all Christians have been baptized in infancy. But lately an increasing number of those so baptized express the wish that they themselves might recall the experience of baptism - much along the lines of what John's baptism meant to people. Part of the problem for those who question the baptizing of infants is the failure to recognize the difference between John's baptism and that which Christ established (see Acts 19:4-5).

THE QUESTION

A new emphasis on direct experience, a smoldering spirit of anti-institutionalism, and an increasingly scientific approach to biblical studies have combined with the natural tendency of people to question ancient practices in the church and have raised the question: Why baptize infants?

Let's face the issue squarely. How did the church get this practice and is there justification for continuing it? Does infant baptism among Lutherans, for example, rest on any foundation other than Luther's centuries-old catechism?

Basic to the question is this statement attributed to Jesus: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). In other words, because they are members of the human family, infants are inheritors of sinful inclinations. Sinfulness is a universal condition. Paul points out in Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Infants, like adults, need help from God.

BAPTISM SAVES

God’s love for the human race, evidenced by his costly plan for its salvation through the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, made provision for us to come to him in spite of our sinful condition. That provision includes baptism. When applied to any human being who does not reject or despise it, baptism establishes a new relationship with God. Though Christian baptism, we have our sin forgiven, become heirs of eternal life, and can remain his children forever. Amazing grace!

In his Large Catechism Luther wrote that baptism is a living, saving water. The power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of baptism to bring to completion that restored relationship to God that Jesus' atonement gained for all humanity. In 1^st Peter 3:21 we are told: "Baptism…now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." If this is the case, then certainly a loving God would not provide baptism as a means for adults and make no provision whatever for infants who are just as precious in his sight.

JESUS COMMANDS

The most direct continuing reason for baptizing infants rests in the simple command that Christ gave to his church: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 3:19). Note that all people of all nations are to be made disciples. It would be difficult to argue that children are not to be considered part of a nation's population until they reach a certain age. Even census takers require that all members of a family be counted regardless of their age. If children are that important to a nation, how much more precious they must be to the Lord who has given them life. Would God exclude infants when it comes to the method by which persons are reclaimed for fellowship with God for all eternity?

A look back into ancient church history shows some favorable testimony for infant baptism by the earliest church fathers. They testified to receiving the tradition of infant baptism from the apostles. The catacombs of Rome bear inscriptions with the names of children, indicating the dates of their deaths at ages ranging from a few months to a few years and stating that they had been baptized. The practice of infant baptism has a long and continuous, though not undisputed, history among Christians.

Our Lutheran view of baptism holds that baptism benefits infants because the power of baptism lies not in what humans do, but in what God does.

In fact, we do not bring anything to our baptism except our need. It is God who acts through this water, performing his miracle of grace. Nothing bars the infant from this benefit since the child neither rejects nor despises baptism or the grace of God. Jesus, in fact, said: "To such belongs the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:13-16).

The infant who is baptized receives all that Jesus' death and resurrection gained for humankind. The child does not contribute anything to his or her salvation; the infant is not in a position to contribute anything. But, then, neither are adults! Salvation is purely a gracious gift of God. Therefore, as with any good gift, the appropriate thing to do is to respond with love and faith to so generous a giver.

GOD INITIATES

It is important to remember that baptism is a sacrament complete in itself. It is a once-for-all-time experience. Even if a person afterwards walks away from God, rejects him, but later returns, that individual is not baptized again. Like the biblical prodigal, the lapsed person upon repentance reenters the covenant relationship which God not only initiated but which he also never canceled.

God wants all people to be saved and has made provision through Christ for anyone to be saved. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16) is a reliable word. For infants, "believing" is not a condition arrived at rationally. It is, rather, a broad description of a new relationship to God who creates a kind of faith-relationship in the heart of the infant. God now has chosen the baptized child as his own, and through this baptism he will save that child through the "washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5). The second birth has now superseded the first. The inheritance of sin, which was a part of the human birth, is now removed and in its place is the inheritance of eternal life through the gift of God. That relationship must be nourished or it will be lost, but of itself it is a full incorporation into fellowship with God.

It must be added that when an infant is brought into fellowship with God through baptism, he or she also is brought into fellowship with all believers. The child becomes a part of the household of faith, the church. In that household the baptized one is nurtured, fed, and cared for spiritually. As the child grows he or she will learn more about what it means to live as a redeemed and chosen member of God's family. Such a person will be able to rejoice in the confidence that he or she belongs to Christ. No one can pluck a person out of the hand of the One who chose that individual in baptism, washed away all sin, and lifted him or her out of the water into the fellowship of all believers. Only the person himself or herself can break that relationship willfully or carelessly.

God has made it clear that the covenant relationship also includes children. And the provision for their entry into the kingdom—this relationship—is clearly stated in John 3:5: "Unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." God has created a sacrament by which he will establish this relationship with an infant as with any believing adult. Therefore, we can be assured that God will receive children as his own, washed clean from sin, delivered from death and the devil, and claimed by him as members of the kingdom to live with him forever.

Through water God touches a weak and vulnerable crown of his creation and says YES!

v You are incorporated into Christ and into his body, the church.

v You are initiated, adopted into my covenant people

v You are called! Chosen! Saved! Born again!

v You are forgiven - free to live without excuses.

v You are ordained, set aside to be a minister.

v You are marked with the cross of Christ forever.

v You are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the baptismal water we died with Christ. We were crucified and buried in order that we might be raised with Christ to live the new life, to dwell in a new reality, a new order of existence.

Because of Baptism we are Christians. Never does our status before God depend on ...

v how we feel.

v having the right experience.

v being free of doubts.

v what we accomplish.

v our success or our position.

We are Christians because God surprised us. Coming in water, God washed us and grafted us into Christ. Our identity for all the days of our life is set! We are children of God, priests of the King, disciples of Christ, a servant people, a holy nation, the communion of saints, the followers of the Way, proclaimers of the Wonderful deeds of God.

Jesus’ story becomes our story. Baptized info his death, we are raised to live as the Body of Christ in the world today.

From: Baptized We Live by Dan Erlander

HOLY BAPTISM

From The Small Catechism by Martin Luther

1. What is Baptism? Baptism is not water only, but it is water used together with God's Word and by his command.

What is this Word? In Matthew 28, our Lord Jesus Christ says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)

2. What benefits does God give in baptism? In Baptism God forgives sin, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe what he has promised.

What is God's promise? In Mark 16 our Lord Jesus Christ says: "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)

3. How can water do such great things? It is not water that does these things, but God's Word with the water and our trust in this Word. Water by itself is only water, but with the Word of God it is a life-giving water which by grace gives the new birth through the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes in Titus 3: "He saved us…in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. The saying is sure." (Titus 3:5-8)

4. What does baptism mean for daily living? It means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever. St. Paul writes in Romans 6: "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4)

A Screenplay

Imagine you are watching a movie, a drama. This is a story in three acts and a story that moves from one scene to another. Use you imagination now, and in your mind watch this "movie" that is taking place in three different places, at three different times. Yet all three scenes tell the same story. The three locations are a church, a tomb and a pool.

Act I

Scene 1 - The Church

A mother and a father bring their little child to church to be baptized. Father holds the baby snugly in his arms as the pastor scoops up a handful of water and allows it to cascade over the baby’s head. The pastor says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father...”

Scene 2 - The Tomb

Jesus had just died on the cross. His friends untie the ropes and pull out the nails and lovingly lower his body to the ground. They make a simple stretcher out of a long piece of linen fabric and carry him to a waiting, empty tomb. There they lay his body on a cold stone shelf.

Scene 3 - The Pool

It is a hot Summer afternoon at the park pool, which is filled with children of all ages, all of them seeking relief from the blazing sun. And many more are moving back and forth along the walkways surrounding the pool. The lifeguards are hoarse from shouting over and over, “Walk!! Don’t run! Walk!!” Like many of the others, one child ignores the warnings of the lifeguards, but this one slips on the wet cement very near the edge of the deep end of the pool, hitting head very hard, and falls very quickly into the water.

ACT II

Scene 1 - The Church

The pastor reaches again into the water and brings up a second handful of water. As it runs down through the soft hair on the baby’s head, the pastor says, “And in the name of the Son…”

Scene 2 - The Tomb

Once the body of Jesus had been placed in the tomb, the linen that had been used as a stretcher is hastily wrapped around the body. It is late on the eve of the Sabbath. They are not supposed to be here and working. They leave the tomb just as the soldiers are beginning to shove a huge, round stone. The stone is rolled roughly into place in front of the door of the tomb. And as it finishes its short journey, it falls into place with a resounding, “Boom!”

Scene 3 - The Pool

The little child’s body slowly sinks to the bottom of the pool and comes to rest very near the drain. There is no movement. There are no bubbles from the mouth. No sign to anyone at all in the crowded pool that this child is in deep, deep trouble.

ACT III

Scene 1 - The Church

The little baby’s eyes are wide open now. Fully awake from the feel of the cool water, the child, along with those gathered around the font hear the pastor finally say, “And in the name of the Holy Spirit¹. Amen!”

Scene 2 - The Tomb

On Sunday morning, the friends of Jesus go to the tomb and are surprised: the stone has been rolled away.

The tomb is empty. Jesus is not there.

He has been raised from the dead.

Scene 3 - The Pool

One of the lifeguards, sitting high on a tower next to the pool, suddenly sees a motionless shape at the bottom of the pool. She dives in and at the bottom of the pool scooped the little child’s body into her arms. She pushes up and brings the little lifeless form to the surface. Others help to gently lift the child out of the water and onto the side of the pool, where she begins first aid. She tilts the head back, pinches the nose, and blows a breath into the lungs. Then another. And after the third breath of new life, there is a cough and the child awakens to a new life.

When you were baptized, what happened to Jesus happened to you. When you were baptized, what happened to the little child in the pool happened to you.

In baptism, you are united with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. What did happen to him, will happen to you.

You are the little child in the pool. God is the lifeguard. God says, “You are important to me and I will not let anything take you away from me.”

[1] The in the Old Testament, Hebrew word ruah, and in the New Testament, the Greek work pneuma both can mean breath, wind, and spirit.