Baptism and motor Vehicle Maintenance

I had a great comment some time back where someone pointed out that the names of the blog entries pointed towards 'something a bit worrying with my sense of humour!' All I can say is that whilst it's not 'humour' (and this suggests that there might be more wrong with them than me) there is indeed much to be worried about regarding mine. Still, here we go with a five minute splurge:

I have noticed that there are two models regarding baptism that read more like automotive journals than Bible stuff  in that for many (almost twenty-five) years I have kept a mantra which spoke of 'Putting the Rubber on the Road' as the formulaic reminder of the Christian life. The focus is on the acronym RBBR (Rubber):
Repent
Believe
Be Baptised
Receive the Holy Spirit

Now that's all pretty straightforward and works well if applied to those to whom it applies. The problem is that I have met a fair few to whom it obviously didn't apply when they hit the water.

The bigger problem is that even when it did, those who were baptised never actually became disciples and so what efficacy was there in the fact they were baptised and considered themselves to be 'Christian' in name but were obviously unregenerate - As a Pentecostal I became aware of many who had raised their hand, said the sinner's prayer and were never seen again; they'd been and gone and assumed they were now 'Christian'.

Last week I met someone who had been baptised in a local church and, seeing the ring of confidence around my neck, quickly informed me of how they were 'Christian'. I asked where they went and upon being told mentioned the name of the pastor there. They shifted from foot to foot and said, "I haven't been there for a while,' and the conversation ended as the rushed away! A bit later I found the 'while' was a couple of years and that they'd been baptised there and then drifted away.

Discipleship, commitment and retention (move the order to fit your preferred emphasis) are surely part of the whole picture and the reality is that those who think baptism is some silver bullet need to check that it's not merely the means of gaining and proclaiming (or parading) scalps.

I struggle with the way infant baptism works for we can find ourselves with people looking for anything but a proclamation of faith and an intention to bring the babe to disciple status - and having provided it we leave the child to grow up with the mistaken belief that they are 'Christian'. The reality is that we have made them members of the Church and then failed to complete the journey. Sadly though, I find this in both forms of baptism regardless of the wet witness brigade or the baptise my baby bunch.

The other automotive parallel comes in the components of baptism:

Oil
Water
Lights

Three of the things that you need to check every morning as you 'first parade' your vehicle (yes' I know there are tyres too!) and these lead us away from some of the previous thinking into the sacramental side of baptism.

But that's for another day - countdown timer has just buzzed and it's time to get down and sacramental with the Eucharist.

have a great day: Be blessed and be a blessing

Golden boy or grey haired wrinkly?

Met a chap a while back and he was one of the CofE's new breed of 'wonder clergy'. Left University with a good degree in something wonderful, spent six months working as a 'parish assistant' in the church around the corner from his college and then entered theological college as an ordinand. Then, after the required period (three years) he had been sent out, ordained and served his title, finished his curacy and become an assistant Priest for a few years, finished that and done another job for a few years (as Assistant again) and then moved on to a 'church of his own'.

Met another chap who had been out and done something or other, somewhere or other, and then got himself selected for ministry. Trained on a scheme (one night a week, six weekends and a Summer school for three years) and then got himself ordained and served his title as Curate before moving into a church as minister (stipendiary), which is where he still was a few years later in his early fifties.

Two men, twenty years apart. One calling and doing the same stuff. One a bright young thing, tipped for preferment, the other a solid clergyman destined to be a foot soldier. The training was different, the qualifications possessed by each were miles apart, the lifestyles and attitudes were light years apart and yet both are priests, both are 'colleagues', but are they the same?

Of course not, for one brings with him experience of life and loss whilst the other had never actually had a job (no, I'm sorry but a Christmas job delivering letters doesn't quite qualify) and had never buried anyone they'd loved (other than a pet hamster I believe!!). One couldn't quite get their head around the pastoral role and the demands of the ministerial life to the extent that they were considering 'throwing in the towel' and going off to do 'something else' (which I think is totally tragic) whilst the other couldn't get enough of parish ministry.

Apparently being ordained young is a curse because of the implicit pressures (and expectations) that preferment and the upper echelons of church will be theirs. Now I'm not saying that either of the two represent a consistent or common model, for they are individuals and so are unique eben if they also represent something consistent. One spoke of calling and the other spoke of pressures, stress and frustration.

Just makes me wonder what we look for and how we select (because I have total confidence in the selection process as a sound and right system) those who go for selection and whether the (voiced) desire to see more 'young' people being ordained might not colour the process and perhaps cause problems. I hear of more younger ministers suffering from stress whilst the older clergy seem to have the ability to let this stress pass them by. I'm not ageist (young or old) but I have to say that the young man (who has now gone off into another form of ministry) was broken, stressed and aware that he'd lost the plot and that raises the questions of selection, preparation before BAP (selection conference), formation during college and Potty training/title.

Are younger people going to be cost-effective (as one senior chap put it) or are we merely sowing the seeds for early retirement, disaffection and healthy doses of unbelief (self and God) in the Clergy - The Next Generation?

Now, back to evangelicals (unless something else comes up),

Pax