What do we become?

Church threw in an extra service the other night for the sake of some guys in our church wanting to be baptised. I love the imagery. Baptism is always more than getting a whole lot wet and drying off for the sake of some guy in the sky. I don't even think he's "up there" anyway; Jesus that is. When I was baptised nearly 2 years ago now, I didn't fully grasp what was taking place. I think I grasp a bit more, but it continues to astonish me. I've been sharing a lot about this new creation (or inaugurated eschatology) recently which has led me back to the reminiscent state of me becoming what has been popularly known as a Christian.

A lot of my friends came along to watch me get wet. I didn't quite get it; it's obviously a massive deal to those who have realised more about what happened to them, and want to witness it in others. Getting baptised gave me an opportunity to share something of my journey. It turned from a travel diary into something of an awards ceremony. I thanked 5 different people.

My parents: They have been together for about 25 years and I never saw them argue. It was a sign of what is really going on with Jesus and his followers. They were good parents to me and gave me freedom to make the faith I now have my own, not reliant on their's.

My older brother: I had seen him change, seen his passion for the bible, and seen his passion for theology. It made me want to study the bible myself and that kicked me into the final steps of becoming a child of God.

My younger brother: He grew my faith by continually working with a fluctuating youth group, that had more interest in playing games than anything serious. The members had been faithful, then unreliable, then bored of it and looking for something else. He had stuck with it all, helping the worship in the more Jesus focused meetings feel like it was owned by the group itself.

As I shared the part about my younger brother I had cried. More of a blurt than an outpour of tears but something had hit me. To this day, I can't really work out what it was.

I thanked Jesus for working in my life, and thanked Dave Mullen for convincing me it was something I needed to do.

After it all I look back and I can see it was crucial. I modelled externally what had happened internally. Primarily, new creation. The dunking signifies death. Jesus died too. Let's publicly share in that, is the general way of thinking about baptism in today's church. The bringing up out of the water brings the cheer. It also brings a sense of relief to both the dunkers and the dunkee. And probably the viewers as well. That signifies new life. Like eggs. I say eggs because they eventually hatch and you've got a fluffy yellow problem on your hands. That could lead me to a further point, but I think I'll leave that for another time.

New life. Why new life? My friend Adam was preaching at the baptisms this time, and with his remote control convertible car he explained - that is more of an in joke to anyone reading this and reminiscing as opposed to those people wanting to find out what happened. What happened was remarkably predictable, but I found out a certain Mike Reeve was very good at telling his story. There's this verse, which is usually taken as a single sentence to prove a point - like taking a random sentence out of this increasingly long post to show something which may or may not be relevant - which says 'anyone in Christ is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.' Lovely and poetic.

Besides my hang-ups with the term in Christ because it's so ambiguous in the original language so I won't go into it, it's a good verse. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. Despite the massively political agenda hidden in the verse there, which is highly irrelevant for the point I'm making, the prospect is clear. With Jesus being raised from the dead New Creation begins. Anyone believing with their heart that he has been raised from the dead can now, quite plainly, be termed as 'in Christ' whatever that really means. I guess I'll go with being crucified with Him and raised with Him...therefore also a new creation; which fits with that other verse.

I like that, it's pretty darn good. I'm not sure what my point is, but baptisms are a great way of encouraging everyone who believes and confesses and stuff that they have this new life to live. Nice.