I'll never forget the anger a Sophomore girl expressed in class one day about her own baptism. We were discussing infant baptism and somehow the class discussion turned into a teenage tirade on the infringement of personal freedom and right to choose your own faith. Sitting in the back of the room, one girl said with passionate anger, “It isn't fair. I didn't even get the choice!”
I would bet you have some students who would like to renounce their baptism. Or, worse yet, could care less one way or the other if they were baptized or not.
The purpose of this meditation is to help your students realize the effect that baptism has had within them. Our baptisms make no sense unless accompanied by the realization of the love that we unknowingly experienced as infants. Our parents and godparents loved and cared for us. They wanted what was best for us. More importantly, at Baptism we experienced for the first time a sacramental expression of God's infinite love for us as his children. Through Baptism we become God's adoptive sons and daughters. We become a part of the body of Christ, God's own Son.
Help students imagine the love of God that will always prefigure the development and acceptance of faith with this meditation on baptism.
A Meditation on Our Baptisms
Reading:
The Baptism of Jesus if the Jordan River
Matthew 3:13-17
Guided Meditation: My Baptism
Most of us experienced our baptism as infants. We have no memory of it ourselves and can only ask our parents to recount the experience for us. Nevertheless, imagine if you were there at your own baptism.
- What would you have seen and heard?
- Who do you think would have been there?
- What kinds of expressions would they have on their faces?
- What do you think they were feeling or thinking at that moment?
Now consider the Baptism of Jesus in relation to your own baptism. In baptism, we become like Christ, God's sons and daughters.
Picture the priest pouring water over your infant head or dunking you in the baptismal font. Then at that moment, look up and imagine these words being proclaimed in silence, “This is my beloved [son/daughter] with whom I am well pleased.”
Now, imagine these words being said to you, today, right now. God speaks directly and privately to you:
“You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased.”
Silently, respond to him. What would you say if you heard these words from God right now?
Closing Prayer
Close with an “Our Father,” but before you begin remind the students of the words that they are saying. They are God's children. God is our Father. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are expressing our relationship with God as our loving Father.
(photo credit: mark sebastian)