28th September 2022, Langham

Last Sunday I had the joy of leading my first baptism, followed a couple of hours later by my second baptism. I think of all the new experiences that I have had over the past few years, I think baptising is probably the most significant thing that I have been able to do in my curacy so far, theologically speaking. In the waters of baptism, we remember how Jesus comes to make us clean. To wash away the sin in our lives that leads to death and give us new life in him. We share in Jesus’ resurrection and receive his eternal life. To lead others in this moment of baptism is the most humbling experience of being a Christian. 

We often talk about baptism as being one of the key acts of becoming a Christian. It is a public and significant act of witness to Jesus. In baptism, we declare and confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Saviour. In baptism, we publicly declare that we are dying to ourselves and being reborn in Jesus and for Jesus.

It is fairly common for married couples to say that attending weddings reminds them of their own wedding and the promises they made to one another in marriage. I wonder if this is the same for any of you with baptisms. Do you remember why you were baptised? What did it mean to you? If you were baptised as a child that might be difficult to remember, but consider what did it mean to you to when you had realised you had been baptised? Or for some of you, what did it mean to you when you affirmed your baptism in confirmation? 

I myself was baptised at the age of 14 (and 1 day) on Easter Sunday in 2010. When I think back to why I got baptised, I know that I got baptised because I had simply fallen in love with Jesus and could not be without him in my life. I had grown up with faith at home. I remember mum doing bedtime prayers and bible stories with us each night. In this sense I always believed in God. I never doubted the gospel story or that Jesus came to die on a cross and rise from the grave to defeat the power of death and sin in our lives. Yet I remember when I was ten years old when my family had gone to New Wine, the Christian festival. I was in my kids’ group and the leaders were talking to us about Jesus and what he did on the cross to save us and draw us to himself so that we may enjoy full life with him now and forever. We were invited in an altar call, if we believed in Jesus and wanted him to come into our lives, to come give our lives to God. I already believed in God, and so in this sense, I didn’t think I wasn’t a Christian, but in this prayer, I was going to say intentionally to God that I wanted to turn to him and for Jesus to be in my life at the centre. So I prayed a prayer of accepting Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and turning from sin to him, giving my whole life to him.

Ten year old Shakeel wrote afterwards in his first spiritual journal: ‘On this Tuesday I became a Christian and turned to God. I was witnessed by loads of people…I took vows to God to honour and serve him…I thank God that I could do this and to know you and to see you Lord. I intend to live a long and happy life with you in heaven.’

I see this as the point where I made my faith not just that of my parents, but my own – a sort of confirmation of the faith I was already living, but now declaring for myself. A few years later I made a public declaration of this faith in baptism. In baptism, I was testifying to what God had been doing in my life, and how I had given my life to God. My old life is washed away as I am reborn in Jesus. My life is now God’s and not my own. I am here as your curate and priest because God has led me to this place taking my life where he wants me to be, not where I think I want to be. This is what baptism means for my life.

I encourage you this week to think about what baptism means for you. What did your baptism mean to you? Or what did your confirmation mean to you? Or was there a moment when something in your heart changed and saw God differently? In baptism we remember God entering into our lives and changing everything. I can definitely say for me that the change was the best thing that ever happened to me. I hope it was the same for you.

Every blessing,

Shakeel.