Baptizing babies and something about water

Let me preface this by saying I won’t be making a religious argument in this article. There won’t be references to the Bible. I won’t be telling you that you’re doomed to a life of tragedy if you don’t get baptized. There’s no shortage of people who have been blessed by holy water only to drown in the overwhelming nature of life. This is an article about identity.

There are two schools of thought in Christianity.

1.     Baptism has to be consensual. When the person is an adult, if they want to be baptized, they can mosey on down to the local parish, declare their faith, and have the blessed water splashed on their (probably balding) head.

2.     Baptism should be done immediately, regardless of consent. If they become an atheist later, they don’t believe anything happened anyhow.

I’ll be making the case here that freedom is not always a good. In a society so dominated by discussions of maximal freedom, this might put you in a state of unease.

There is so much said about identity these days, and I feel we’re constantly grasping to find something that isn’t in flux, or reactionary.

Just think about what people hold onto now. Nationalism is on the rise throughout all of the West. Gender disagreements are becoming more stark. Your identity is now your job, or your Instagram follower count, or your sports team.

But all of this is transitory.

Nationalism seems to be a reaction to immigration (which could render it temporary). Gender disagreements seem to be a reaction to the rise of women and equity initiatives that are considered unfair (again, this could be simply a transitional phase). Jobs come and go. Social media is dying. Sports teams win and lose and move cities when the owners say so.

There is perhaps one constant that a person can be armed with which is not based on physiology: Faith.

Imagine someone who becomes a bit lost in life, a stage which seems inevitable, eventually, for all of us. And then imagine our two schools of thoughts again: forced baptism vs. maximal freedom.

This person is lost politically, swinging wildly between right and left. One day blaming elites for his position and the next day immigrants. He has long given up on voting. Anytime he goes into the dating scene he embarrasses himself, so he gives up here as well. He loses his job. He doom scrolls for hours, making himself feel worse. His sports team just moved across the country because the owner got a better offer.

And on one afternoon when the black dog is pursuing him with all of its vigor, the man walks past a Cathedral. A place, despite everything going on in his life, that will have mass this Sunday. Because it will have mass next Sunday. It will have mass on the Sunday 100 years from now.

Our two possibilities, once again:

1.     He was never baptized. Walking into the Cathedral would be a radical shift. A conversion. It is scary because it is new and he has to start from the beginning.

2.     He was baptized against his will. Walking into the cathedral doors would not be a conversion. It would be a return to the familiar harbour from which his boat first left.

Baptism gives a person a safe harbour. It gives them a permanent identity, if they want it to be that, when everything else in life is transitory.

That is actually a miracle.

I recently reached out to my local Church, telling them that after more than a decade away, I had started attending mass again. I signed up for their email list and asked if there were ways to get involved. I won’t share the whole message (and all of the logistical details), but here is the ending, in part:

If you would ever like to stop by and have a conversation, please feel free to do so. I would be happy to meet with you, get to know you a little better, and help you explore ways you might continue growing in faith and becoming involved in the life of the parish.

Once again, welcome back. Please know that you are always welcome here.

Love, peace and joy,

[name of a very kind member of the clergy]

‘Any port in a storm’ becomes much better advice when you know the location of a port. All it takes is a little water, and you know where a port is for life.