24. rebirth: baptism and confirmation

one can be born anytime, but statistically one is most likely to be born very early in the morning on a new moon, the second most popular time being very early in the morning on a full moon.

likewise one may be reborn--that is, baptized and chrismated-at any time, but the church has long--1800 years long--considered the great fifty days of easter the best time, particularly during the easter vigil. the image of our baptism's partaking of the passover of the lord is even older. to the romans paul wrote, in a passage used as the epistle in the easter vigil,

"you have been taught that when we were baptised in christ jesus we were baptized in his death; in other words, when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as christ was raised from the dead by the father's glory, we too might live a new life.

"if in union with christ we have imitated his death, we shall imitate him in his resurrection." (romans 6:3-5)

that "we too might live a new life," that we might have the power to "imitate him in his resurrectin," christ jesus gave us the gift of "another comforter, the holy spirit." (john 14:26) this gift is in the new testament an inseparable part of the paschal event, either as happening on one day, as in john's gospel (john 20:19-22), or as the climactic event of the fifty days, as in the writings of luke (acts 2:1-4).

unfortunately the church in the west for the most part lost or abandoned, but by the grace of god is recovering and reclaiming, the power of the great fifty days, and the interconnectedness of the resurrectin of christ and the gift of the holy spirit. i believe the intimate relationship between christian initiation and christian understanding of the mighty acts of god in restoring jesus to life and sending the holy spirit is proven by the parallel ways we have separated and reunited them. rather than go into a detailed history of that understanding, let me refer the reader to the works of daniel stevnick in the bibliography, and remind one that the eastern church has never separated baptism--the immersion of the penitent in water three times as he or she confesses her belief in the father and the son and the holy spirit--from chrismation--the anointing of the newly baptised christian with oil--nor has she ever abandoned the keeping of the great gifty days.

the church in the west is recovering the understanding of that unity, if in bits and pieces. both united methodists and episcopalians, for instance, have restored to the baptismal liturgy the laying-on-of-hands that had been understood as part of confirmation, the west's development of chrismation. the episcopal church has restored at least the option of chrismation. the church of south india, that remarkable reunion of many fragments of the great church, has restored the putting on of a white garment, the ancient action referring to the description of the church in the revelation to john that gave pentecost sunday the name whitsunday in england when people waited as late in the fifty days as possible for baptism so the rivers would be less cold. no one, so far as i know, has returned to the ancient practice of requiring the baptismal candidate to put aside all garments, even jewelry, as a sign of renouncing the old life. but all of the church which acknowledges even the slightest importance of apostolic tradition is recovering easter, the pascha, as fifty days, the great week of weeks, the time to celebrate the mighty acts of god in which we are graced to participate through baptism in water and in fire.