Emphasize Baptism - Page 3
© Rev. Bill Tackmier
The things we learned in designing and creating our new baptismal font have enriched our appreciation of baptism. We learned that we can design a font to reflect our beliefs about baptism better than if we just buy something from a catalog. Standard catalog stock can sometimes minimize important Christian teachings or "interpret" them in ways not completely accurate. Unless we're willing to actively set the context for our proclamation of the truth, we can slip into mimicking currently popular Christian notions. This can diminish appreciation for the major ways in which God gives us his grace - as he does in the sacrament of baptism.
I keep these lessons in mind as I teach about baptism and as I baptize. Our setting in California gives us opportunities to baptize not only infants, but also adults and teens. Our parish school has a large percentage of unchurched families, families to whom we have special opportunities to witness. Every spring at least one eighth grader is both confirmed and baptized. In May 1999 it was three. What a joy when teenagers eagerly ask for baptism!
May we continue to be a church body that treasures the sacraments and actively seeks ways to foster their importance in the minds of our people.
Pastor Tackmier serves St. Mark's Church in Citrus Heights, California - a suburb of Sacramento.
The article is reprinted from Fall 1999 Lutheran Leader which aims to help leaders in Lutheran congregations with a Bible-based approach to ministry.
Lutheran Leader is published four times a year by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Board for Parish Services in cooperation with Northwestern Publishing House. To order, call NPH Order Services at 1-800-662-6022.
Top picture: The font described in this article now being used at St. Mark's
Last picture: St. Mark's Lutheran Church
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