After this past weekend, I am starting a push for baptisms to be conducted in the manner prescribed in The Didache.
CHAPTER 7
But concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: having first recited all these precepts, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water; but if thou hast not running water, baptize in some other water, and if thou canst not baptize in cold, in warm water; but if thou hast neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But before the baptism, let him who baptizeth and him who is baptized fast previously, and any others who may be able. And thou shalt command him who is baptized to fast one or two days before.
(Charles Hoole translation)
I spent this last weekend dealing with my first ever prostate infection. After a bit of research to learn how one gets a this infection, I figured the most likely time and place I came in contact with bacteria was at the previous weekend’s church camp out, where I had the honor to baptize several people in the lake.
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| Baptizing the Pinlac family |
Other translations of The Didache translate “running water” with the phrase “living water.” Something was likely living in that lake, but apparently nothing I wanted to come into contact with. In the days before chlorinated pools and baptismals, cold running water was the most likely to be clean. I did not get ill when I baptized people in the Jordan River, and there were muskrats swimming around. (Naaman really had nothing to worry about.) Besides, according to some, being immersed in cold water more aptly represents death.
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| Jordan River Baptism of Bruce and Liz |
So, to the next person who requests I officiate their baptism, consider this post your fair warning.©2011 Paul Tillman
