From the Canon Precentor: Baptism, Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation: Part 4

This is the last essay in a four part series on the Catechumenate by Canon Broderick. Read the first three parts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

“We share by water in his saving death.
Reborn, we share with him an Easter life
as living members of a living Christ.
Alleluia!” — John Geyer

Baptism, with its rich ritual and linguistic cosmology, is an unsurprising cornerstone for confirmation and reception in The Episcopal Church. Since the mid-twentieth century, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox, and other churches have re-emphasized the gravity and centrality of baptism to the Christian life. Around forty years ago, the World Council of Churches published a document on baptism, eucharist, and ministry in which the following is said: “Through baptism, Christians are brought into union with Christ, with each other and with the Church of every time and place…The union with Christ which we share through baptism has important implications for Christian unity…When baptismal unity is realized in one holy, catholic, apostolic Church, a genuine Christian witness can be made to the healing and reconciling love of God.” 

In the Anglican tradition, this line in the Nicene Creed, which finds its origins in the Letter to the Ephesians, is taken very seriously: “We acknowledge one baptism.” The creedal foundations of this conviction yield themselves out through our refusal of “re-baptism”. As we discussed in the first essay: The Holy Eucharist, not “re-baptism”, is the repeatable dimension of baptism. The Episcopal Church does offer a rite for those who have been baptized, confirmed, or received and are desirous of publicly confessing faith in Christ: Reaffirmation of baptismal vows. 

Marion Hatchett, in his commentary on the American Prayer Book, suggests this rite is for those who have “fallen away from their baptismal commitment to the Christian faith and life and wish to renew their commitment before the bishop and the congregation”. Those seeking this rite may also be confirmed Episcopalians in whom the Holy Spirit has kindled anew the love of Christ and who seek to solemnize this with the laying on of hands by the bishop.

To be a Christian is to address God the way Jesus addresses God, in intimacy and reverence; it is to hear what God says about Jesus in his baptism and realize that God says just the same about us; it is to make mistakes, fall, and get back up by the grace and kindness of God. And in our messiness and complexity and inability to live in harmony with the way of Christ, the reaffirmation of baptismal vows is a public rite in which God’s relentless love reclaims us, makes us whole, and enables us to live into our baptismal identity with confidence and clarity. The baptized life lived honestly, is not always glorious, profound, or exciting. Much of it is spent doing dishes, commuting to and from work, standing in lines at grocery stores, stalled in traffic, running errands, and other everyday rituals. Also, much of life is spent at the cross-section of difficult desires, decisions, and deadlines that gray our vision of God, ourselves, others, and our planet. Thus, the baptized life is usually lived as a touchstone of a moment in time when we heard God say, “You are my beloved child in whom I take great delight.” And it becomes necessary, at hinge points in our lives, to return to our center and say, “God, I believe in the promises of fidelity you made to me in the waters of baptism and I reaffirm your claim on my life in the presence of my bishop.” 

Is that you? Are you already confirmed or have been received in The Episcopal Church and in the ensuing time have watched your living relationship with Christ grow dull? Do you feel God’s love for you in Christ drawing you into a new chapter? Prayerfully consider registering for Catechumenate, a small group rooted in Christ’s unconditional love and Episcopal community, that will climax with your reaffirmation of baptismal vows at the Great Vigil of Easter in the presence of the Bishop of Colorado. Whether you are curious about baptism, confirmation, reception, or reaffirmation of baptismal vows, please know that Saint John’s clergy team and lay leaders are prepared for your questions and are ready to welcome you home.