Rituals: Right or Rite?

Not long after I became pastor of one of my previous churches, one of the deacons came to me after a baptism and said, "Preacher, you are baptizing people wrong."  I asked what he meant by that, I was sure that I had gotten our last candidate totally immersed which I thought was pretty much the only real point for Baptists.  "They are facing the wrong way.  When we baptize people here they face the other direction" he said.  I wondered if there was some verse in Titus of Philemon that taught the proper direction to face when being baptized; perhaps I had been absent that day in seminary when they covered that.

I did not really understand what he meant and after a few more questions that only made me look worse in his eyes something dawned on me.  I asked him if my predecessor had been left handed?  The previous pastor had been there for many years and, yes, he was left handed.  I told him that I was right handed and wanted my right hand underneath people when they were baptized.  That was the reason they were facing the way they were when I baptized them.  That really wasn't good enough for him but we left it that this may in fact be a "disputable matter" not clearly spelled out in Titus, Philemon or even in the various interpretations of Revelation.

It is interesting what becomes a sacred to people and why.  I have had similar conversations with people when the Lord's Supper elements where not covered with a white sheet and when a baptismal candidate wore something other than white as they were being baptized.  It seems to often happen around our two "ordinances" that we observe as Baptists - baptism and the Lord's Supper.

This Sunday, we are going to do both and I will preach about both - how there is a common thread shared in baptism and the Lord's Supper.  From time to time we need to ask ourselves why we do what we do.  Is it out of ritual or out of a relationship?  

The truth is I think most of us who go to church often have some things that have become rituals to us.  We may not realize it until a new pastor comes in and baptizes people facing the wrong way.  Then what we have made sacred is revealed in our disappointment and we are forced to examine ourselves.  That self examination seems to be something I have read a verse or two about.

What is sacred?  What is not? What is right and what is simply a rite?  I hope you will be there.  I am sure there will be some comments.  I will even let you weigh in on whether our baptismal candidates faced the right direction or not.

for the journey...

Tim