(back post)
Worked all morning and got home about 1.30pm to finish the assignment. Had lunch, won a couple of games of the addictive spider solitaire, checked my e-mails and wrote about 400 words, so it's still not finished. But I wanted to get in to Cambridge in the daylight so I stood a chance of getting out of it again. Last time I went over for a Wednesday evening it was dark and pouring with rain. I couldn't see the signs and found Jesus purely by chance (the Lane, that is). This meant that when I left I had no idea where to go and spent quite a while lapping Cambridge on the ring road and finally came back via Duxford - not the most direct route. This time was some what more successful and I knew exactly how to get home.
The evening was really good. Betty, our former lay pastor at High Town Meth, is studying there full time, so it was good to catch up with her. She's taking her mother-in-laws funeral today, so it was good to see her. She introduced me to Linda who is also a foundation student finishing off Faith & Worship (Meth local preacher training - what I'm doing the assignment for) so we had a lot in common.
After fish and chips for supper it was time for Bread. The speaker for the evening was Barbara Glasson, who started the Bread Church in Liverpool - otherwise known as Somewhere Else, Methodist City Centre Church. It was really interesting hearing about how it all started, how it's moved on, her views on God, liturgy, people, community and bread, or Eccles Cakes.
So here's an interesting question she mentioned that she had to deal with - and didn't say what she'd done. I thought I'd share it with you:- a woman from the bread community approached her and asked to be baptised. However, she had been baptised as a child....but that was when she was a boy. What do you do?
I'll leave it with you....
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6 comments:
Oh good question Sarah- I have rather out of the box views on re-baptism-and will invent an alternative liturgy to get round it if needs be....
but here we are talking about the taking on of a new identity- so is this a new person being baptised in her true identity- good one for ethics- it could be argued that the first baptism was false!
I'm not sure I agree with Sarah, though I see that there's a pastoral side here. I think that methodists have a fantastic advantage here, though: you have the covenanting service, which is a really powerful force. I'd use that, if I could: I wouldn't feel happy about rebaptism. I'd want to spend a lot of time explaining that baptism is a sacrament, and comes from God (a mystery from God, indeed), and even if humans don't get it right, God understands the person that you are underneath, inside.
If you were looking for a "legal" (in the C of E / Methodist sense) alternative, one would be a reaffirmation of baptismal vows - which might involve a symbolic immersion in water.
Nice to see Mike's conservative side...
think I'm with Gary on this one- but would still like to grapple with the ethical question of who was baptised!
btw Mike- it is called The Covenant Service!
Well it wasn't two different people, was it? We all change through life and adapt to the roles we adopt. But if you're metaphorically a new person, then surely being born again would require a new baptism?
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