Sunday, December 09, 2007

You're ALL Wet


It was a very tough fall this fall in the old South. The chief cause of difficulties was the drought which struck us all. While it could be said that it was not a drought of Biblical proportions, you know its pretty severe when the Mayor of Atlanta starts talking about a water pipeline from various points west, including Montana (!) to solve the crisis. In the midst of this dilemma, baptismal practices seem to have been revisited. One person joked:

"It's so dry in Georgia that the Baptists are starting to baptize by
sprinkling, the Methodists are using wet-wipes, the Presbyterians are giving out
rain-checks, and the Episcopalians, Catholics, and Lutherans are praying
for the wine to turn back into water."
Now THAT's Dry.

This reminds me of the instructions in that first century Christian guidebook the Didache, which suggests that one should use running water, or if its too dry for that, still water and pouring in the baptismal rite.

On more as to why baptismal practices vary so much-- see my 'Troubled Waters: Rethinking the Theology of Baptism".

5 comments:

DErifter said...

"so dry in Georgia that..."

That's funny!

Shane Vander Hart said...

I've heard that before... I love it when we can poke fun at each other in a good natured way.

Shane Vander Hart

Alvin Grissom II said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christopher Smith said...

LOL!

Unknown said...

A quick plug for the book. Recently (this past year) my local church has been redefining --maturing and crystallizing really-- our position and practice with the sacraments and Dr. Witherington's book was one of the better resources (among many) I was blessed to discover. I personally found his handling of the subject to be orthodox and biblical yet balanced and irenic given a subject that, I discovered, could become quite heated. Well worth the read should you be navigating the same waters ...