Christmas and believer’s baptisms: natural companions?

Today has been full of schools. Our church is playing host to a local school for their Christmas concerts, and today we had the lower school rehearsing all morning. They are a very talented group of children, with staff who are dedicated to helping them achieve their full potential. I know that there will be many proud parents at the events this week and next.

Then, this afternoon, a complete change of tack as three classes from another local primary school came to discover more about Believer’s Baptism. They have been exploring the rite of Baptism as part of their studies, so we opened our pool, showed them a video of my son’s baptism last year, and answered many deep and insightful questions. I also did a dry run with one of the students in the pool and got the rest to be the big splash that happens. I enjoyed myself and I think the children and staff did too.

On the face of it the only thing that these two groups of schoolchildren had in common was that they were at our church. But I think there’s something quite special that links the two. In the songs and presentations that the children were rehearsing was the joy and excitement of celebrating Christmas – Jesus’ birth. And believer’s baptism is full of the joy and excitement of celebrating new births for followers of Jesus.

Without believers being baptised Christmas is pointless: Jesus came into the world to change lives and baptisms are evidence of this. And without Christmas, believer’s baptism is just a public bath that makes no sense. I pray that you will know the joy and excitement of both!

Be blessed, be a blessing