Baptism

In the drop: the woosh of waking, the breaking wave of faith, the wet of washing off the world, beginning the spirit birth swaddled in water. What witness of why we worship: our own selves dying, rising into Christ's water and blood spewing from his speared side before his dying once-and-for-all for each baby's baptism. In the font: his history of forgiveness, faith of our future, grace fingered on the forehead of the guilty innocents, salvation sprinkled in a torrent of grace.

* Marjorie Maddox is an Associate Professor of English at Lock Haven University.

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Winter 1999
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