Presbyterian Church (USA) staff member, Charles Wiley, posted this on Facebook in 2015. It came up this morning on my "Your Memories on Facebook" feed. I believed then, and maybe even more so now, that this was not just good liturgical and theological practice on the occasion of baptisms, but also helpful to remind myself of every day...
Yesterday, at the baptism of the daughter of Matt Sanders and Brie's daughter at Springdale Presbyterian Church,
the minister (and grandfather) used a paraphrase of the French
baptismal liturgy, appreciated by many in the PCUSA and beyond. For a
long time I've wanted to adapt it to the baptism of believers/adults,
and then recently discovered that the Church of Scotland had already
done it. So, for your use:
N . . .
for you Jesus Christ came into the world:
for you he lived and showed God's love;
for you he suffered the darkness of Calvary
and cried at the last, "It is accomplished":
for you he triumphed over death
and rose in newness of life;
for you he ascended to reign at God's right hand.
All this he did for you, N . . .
before you knew anything of it.
And so the word of Scripture is fulfilled:
"We love because God loved us first."
Amen? You bet!
