The baptismal liturgy proclaims God’s promises of covenant relationship, invites parents to promise to teach Christian faith to their child, and urges the congregation to vow to guide and nurture the newly baptized in their midst. Parental participation pairs with intergenerational mentoring to form a web of relationships where baptismal identity can flourish. Yet, the espoused values of promise within the orderly world of baptism are met by the reality of chaos and struggle in human life. A year of exploring baptism within the congregational context sought to bridge the gap (Heifetz) between the espoused values of promise and the lived reality of chaos. When trying to impact the value-reality gap, making time for God-in-community was the chief impediment to baptismal identity, and active compassionate intergenerational participation became the ecclesial imperative.
Because baptism is the beginning of a child’s growing up in God (Smith), this project reorients baptism in Genesis chapter one, where God’s creative spirit hovers over the watery primordial chaos in the beginning. The poetry of Genesis 1:2 offers a launching point to explore the chaos that permeates existence, both binding up the congregation and tearing it asunder. Research in the social, ecclesial and theological context of baptism meets research in the binding power of promises, liturgy, intergenerational storytelling and ritual to articulate how post-baptismal rituals break down the value-reality gap and renew baptismal identity.
This project used narrative inquiry to collect, curate and evaluate the practices of living into baptismal promises by inviting children and adults to engage in (1) education and imagining (2) liturgy and storytelling, and (3) community reflection and action. The congregation’s baptismal identity was most recognized and recognizable at the corner of joy and sorrow, where compassionate participation in the baptismal promises enacted a love that bears with the chaos (Keller).
