What Does It Mean To Be Baptized?

 For most of us, our parents took us to church one day and a clergyperson performed some kind of ritual usually involving water. More than anything, it was an occasion to gather with friends and family. Skipping this ritual could be considered a serious social faux pas. For some it might mean that you were now safe from the flames of hell. For most, nothing much really happened. Not so for Anabaptists.

For Anabaptists, baptism is a solemn promise to adhere to the rules of the community, a promise that can be made only by adults. The word "baptism" means "to immerse," hence the dipping in water or sprinkling in some traditions. For Anabaptists, baptism is immersion in the life of the community. Anabaptists are baptized with the holy spirit meaning they adopt the character of God as their own. No water required. Sometimes water may be used anyway or replaced by laying on of hands, but it is not really necessary. Everything important going on happens inside the person getting baptized.

Baptism is very serious business and never happens as a matter of tradition or because the other kids do it. Baptism is a lifetime commitment. Breaking the promise to the community, which is really a substitute for God, could result in getting shunned or excommunicated unless serious repentance is made and the promise renewed.

In our culture, that level of commitment is hard to come by. Most of us would rather not. It is uncomfortable. We would rather keep our options open. We delay career choices or getting married. Hey, there could be a better job or a better spouse around the next corner. Short-term benefits tend to be more compelling than a long-term strategy. What's yours?

Why Common Purse

Image by Dmitriy from Pixabay

 

The Bible tells us that the people in the early church had everything in common. It wasn't a command, just continuing the way Jesus and his disciples had always done things. 

God put the man, Adam, in the Garden to work it and take care of it, free to eat from any tree except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Clearly, God did not make Adam an owner, but a steward.

We now know that people did not become farmers and shepherds like Cain and Abel right away. First, they were hunters and gatherers owning nothing individually except perhaps some tools or clothing. The advent of agriculture and husbandry marks the beginning of escalating claims of individual property ownership rights. Over time, wealth and power has become concentrated into fewer and fewer hands ending in the absurd wealth disparity and violence we see today. 

Having everything in common was not the norm even at Jesus' time. At least it was unusual enough that Luke felt a need to mention it. Jesus repeatedly pointed out that the accumulation of wealth was an obstacle to returning to the Garden.

Restoring the Garden is not going to be easy. Some people like the common purse idea, but would really prefer something a little less radical. The inconvenient truth is that the common purse is not radical enough. It still involves the use of money. Jesus himself fell victim to the power of greed when Judas sold him out. 

The common purse is an achievable goal to set while we scale our communities to a level where we can finally eliminate the curse of private property and demonstrate to the world that there is an alternative.