The greeting echoes Scripture and will be very well known to many Christians but maybe not very comprehensible to non-Christians:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all
and also with you.
The introduction to the service does not have mandatory words and could offer an opportunity to explain what baptism is about in the most accessible words of which the president is capable.
Silent prayer follows. People just settling in an unfamiliar environment and surrounded by children of various ages making various noises likely find it difficult to make much use of this and especially if prayer is unfamiliar to them as well.
The Collect offered is the following; the alternative Collect of the Day may be more accessible. Maybe the introduction above needs to focus on making this prayer more intelligible.
Heavenly Father,
by the power of your Holy Spirit
you give to your faithful people new life in the water of baptism.
Guide and strengthen us by the same Spirit,
that we who are born again may serve you in faith and love,
and grow into the full stature of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
now and for ever. Amen.
The Liturgy of the Word includes at least one reading from Scripture, a psalm and a Gospel Reading. This offers much opportunity to reflect but also for outsiders to get lost. The readings are normally not specifically chosen to shed light on the rite of baptism and are unlikely to be readily accessible to outsiders, unless a paraphrase or Children's version of the Bible is used. The Sermon is the one big opportunity to address outsiders about what is happening but maybe at the cost of not doing much to help the congregation hear and respond to the readings of the day.
The Liturgy of Baptism begins with the Presentation of the Candidates.This may also take place earlier, between the introduction to the service and the Collect. I am not sure whether the first statement of the rubric "The candidates may be presented to the congregation" merely alludes to its alternative placement, refers to an additional (initial, informal "hello, this is the ___ family") presentation prior to the following or is intended to mark this whole section as optional. UPDATE: The words are in fact obligatory, see the blog post on the Presentation of the Candidates. We move on to The Decision.
"Where there are strong pastoral reasons," an alternative, much shorter form may be used. Some clergy argue that there are always "strong pastoral reasons" to do so but, rightly or wrongly, the rubric seems to me to imply that the alternative form should be the exception rather than the rule. This deserves a separate blog post.In baptism, God calls us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
To follow Christ means dying to sin and rising to new life with him.
Therefore I ask:Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?
I reject them.Do you renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?
I renounce them.Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?
I repent of them.Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?
I turn to Christ.Do you submit to Christ as Lord?
I submit to Christ.Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth and the life?
I come to Christ.
The Signing with the Cross is obligatory. (More on this in a future blog post.)
Christ claims you for his own.
Receive the sign of his cross.
But what is the sign of the cross? How will it be understood by outsiders? The following maybe seeks to stress that the cross is not an arbitrary symbol of Christianity:
Our faith is tied to Christ crucified. The cross is and remains a scandal, challenging us in our sin, the world in its rejection of the Saviour and the devil in his rebellion against God. Being a disciple of Christ engages one in a fight and faithfulness is not a given. Outsiders may well not get what this is all about although they might get a sense of the Christian life including a battle for loyalty to Christ. Could the wording be clearer? I think so but at the cost of brevity. "As an apprentice of Christ fight with courage. Fight whatever distracts you from Christ and separates you from God, whether within you or around you, whether by way of natural inclination or through a personal force beyond our understanding, and stick with Christ, loyal to the end of your life."Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified.
Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ
against sin, the world and the devil,
and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life.
Again, this presumes knowledge of biblical themes which outsiders might not have. But it isn't so much the language which is difficult to access but the content which means nothing much can be done short of losing the content or having an explanatory leaflet to hand. Maybe the sermon could talk about darkness as being not only a deprivation, as all evil is, but also power; about how humanity is special within creation in our vocation to reflect God's glory but spoiled and in need of restoration; and about what is so great and enlightening about the "obedience of Christ".May almighty God deliver you from the powers of darkness,
restore in you the image of his glory,
and lead you in the light and obedience of Christ.
Amen.
The Prayer over the Water may be one of the most demanding parts of the service for outsiders. The seasonal provision for Epiphany/Baptism of Christ/Trinity has more punch/coherence than the standard provision but its link between the Spirit and water would need explaining. The responsive form may be the most accessible although I'd happily lose "For your Spirit, sweeping over the waters" and "Father, accept our sacrifice of praise..." There is a logic to these but I am not confident that even most regular worshippers would be able to explain it.
Praise God who made heaven and earth,
who keeps his promise for ever.Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.Father, for your gift of water in creation,
we give you thanks and praise.For your Spirit, sweeping over the waters,
bringing light and life,
we give you thanks and praise.For your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
baptized in the river Jordan,
we give you thanks and praise.For your new creation,
brought to birth by water and the Spirit,
we give you thanks and praise.For your grace bestowed upon us your children,
washing away our sins,
we give you thanks and praise.Father, accept our sacrifice of praise;
may your holy and life-giving Spirit
move upon these waters.
Lord, receive our prayer.Restore through them the beauty of your creation,
and bring those who are baptized
to new birth in the family of your Church.
Lord, receive our prayer.Drown sin in the waters of judgement,
anoint your children with power from on high,
and make them one with Christ
in the freedom of your kingdom.
Lord, receive our prayer.For all might, majesty, dominion and power are yours,
now and for ever.
Alleluia. Amen.
The Profession of Faith is the Apostles' Creed in question and answer form, except "where there are strong pastoral reasons" to use the shorter, alternative Profession of Faith. This illustrates the contemporary problem in a nutshell. For many, many years in our region most people would have known this Creed by heart whether they assented to it or not. Now most don't. Should we therefore keep it to ourselves? Maybe not.
The actual Baptism takes place with the words
N, I baptize you
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
and water, of course, preferably not too little. Again there is no escaping the fact that Christians believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, however hard this is to comprehend. The signing of the cross can take place now instead of earlier, but in this case different words are given, words which highlight the anointing rather than the sign, introducing another concept which would be unfamiliar to outsiders.
The Commission has words provided but they are not mandatory; "similar words" could be used instead. There are no proscribed words for the Prayers of Intercession either.
The Welcome is reasonably straightforward.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism:
N and N, by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.
We welcome you into the fellowship of faith;
we are children of the same heavenly Father;
we welcome you.
The Peace is introduced with these or other suitable words
The Blessing might be this or another suitable oneWe are all one in Christ Jesus.
We belong to him through faith,
heirs of the promise of the Spirit of peace.The peace of the Lord be always with you
and also with you.
The DismissalThe God of all grace,
who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus,
establish, strengthen and settle you in the faith;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Go in the light and peace of Christ.
Thanks be to God.
