Here's a question - are there many "believer" baptisms in Lutheran churches represented on this board? By that I mean older children/adult baptisms. The NYT story is a good thing, no? Lots of older children/adult baptisms - new accessions into the Christian faith. Roman Catholics have RCIA, and I'm sure we have similar adult instruction classes in our Lutheran congregations. There are professions of faith by people who come from another Christian affiliation, or "new believers" who had no prior church life. So that's one question.
But the baptismal rite itself. The article speaks at length about baptisms outside the sanctuary or in different water vessels than previously seen as appropriate. How about us? I've done that, not often but occasionally, and it was lovely:
When we used to have the annual church picnic at a location with a swimming pool, we often moved the baptismal ritual for adults to the picnic location and baptized outdoors. The pool at Long Island Lutheran was one location, the pool at the YMCA another, and a lake on Staten Island a third. Those were memorable for the assembly of believers as well as for the baptizand/family. With one exception, it has always been a service of the Word/song with baptism, not a Eucharist, because that was too difficult to arrange in the circumstance.
An advantage of going to a public park is that this kind of activity brings lots of other people over, and provides an outreach opportunity for follow-up.
Any movement in that direction by other congregations here?
Dave Benke
