Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear congregation on this day, the Baptism of Our Lord, we celebrate our own baptism. We also observe a milestone in the life of faith for our three-year olds. Most parents cannot even believe that it has been three years since their children were born. In most, if not all cases, the children were baptized soon after birth.

At the time of baptism our parents make the following promises:

As you bring your child to receive the gift of baptism, you are entrusted with responsibilities:

-to live with them among God's faithful people,
-bring them to the word of God and the holy supper,
-teach them the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,
-place in their hands the holy scriptures,
-and nurture them in faith and prayer,
-so that they may learn to trust God,
-proclaim Christ through word and deed,
-care for others and the world God made,
-and work for justice and peace.

As we hear the list being read at baptism, it is striking to us adults what is expected in the outcome of this act of washing our sons and daughters in the waters of baptism. At once we rehearse what is required of every Christian—whether adult or child. When we think about the child being brought to the assembly of the faithful for baptism, we realize that an infant does not bring any prerequisite quality or characteristic to the font. The child does not understand the content of the faith intellectually. The child does not have some kernel of faith that qualifies the child for baptism. The child has not achieved some level of moral accomplishment.

It is perhaps understandable that many Christian congregations baptize only so-called adults. But this is not as simple as it may seem. I was not baptized as a child, but then again I was not baptized as an adult. As a child I loved going to church. My Sunday School teachers would hug me, tell me stories, give me fun activities to do, and give me Koolaid and cookies. They told me over and over again that Jesus loves me. By the time I reached the age of six years, I loved Jesus very much because “Jesus first loved me.”

One day we were observing the Lord’s Supper. The bread was passed down the pew. Daddy took some bread and passed it to Mother. Mother took some bread and passed it on past me to the next person. I wanted to be included with my family and the congregation, so I reached for some bread. My mother then told me that I could not participate. When I asked why, she responded, “Because you are not baptized.”

Well, I might have been a child, but I was clued in enough to know what to do in order to be baptized. At the time of the altar call, I went forward and gave my heart to Jesus who already had my heart. My mother was distressed by this act and went to the pastor for pastoral counseling. The problem was that my confession was a child’s confession and not an adult confession which would have included the awareness of human sin that resided in me.

In other words, if I were to be baptized, it would not include a sense of repentance, a turning to God with a conviction that I too shared in the sin of the human race. My pastor was a wise counselor and encouraged my mother to allow me to be baptized. I was baptized. That is not the end of the story, but it is enough of the story to deal with the matter at hand.

Baptism is about grace and repentance. I think the grace part was not in question. But my mother was not wrong to recognize that perhaps the repentance was not quite developed. In the earliest days of the church primarily adults were baptized into the church, usually after a pronounced period of preparation and instruction. One could see in baptism the act of turning to God’s love and to the promise proclaimed in the act of baptism. Baptism marked a clear declaration of allegiance to the body of Christ away from the various religions, philosophies and life-styles available in the Roman dominated world.

As future generations came, it was inevitable that parents would bring their children to the church for the benefits of baptism, among which were the clear designation of the family as belonging to the church.

So we must ask today not just for our three-year olds, but for all of us. If the practice of infant baptism includes the act of repentance, where is repentance to be found among us? The answer lies in our use of baptism. When the bath of holy baptism is understood as a gift, then we must ask what to do with this gift. Baptism is not a family event. Baptism is not a naming ceremony. Baptism is not a statement by us that we have joined the right side.

Baptism is the proclamation of the gospel. It is the literal washing of sin combined with the promise of the forgiveness of sin and the invitation from God to return to the One who creates, redeems and sanctifies us. As Luther states in the Small Catechism.

For without the Word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a "bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit," as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3:5–8, "through the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he richly poured out over us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that through that very grace we may be righteous and heirs in hope of eternal life. This is surely most certainly true." (The Book of Concord, Kolb/Wengert edition)

The water of baptism is given as something concrete by which we can cling to this promise throughout our lives. That is why we sprinkle the congregation with water during the entrance hymn. The water is tangible and reminds of our baptism and God’s promise. And please do not worry! The water is distilled and won’t hurt your clothes, and the paper in our hymn is the best that money can buy. It will dry. So what is it we do when we clean to the water in the font and are sprinkled with the water in the assembly? We are given the opportunity to repent, that is, to return to our baptism. The water of baptism is given to us as something to which we can return. Thus, in infant, children, and adult baptism repentance is not only about sorrow for sin. It is more importantly the joy of returning home.

Martin Marty has a new book on baptism that expresses the importance of understanding baptism as a gift to be used. Marty’s title is Baptism: a User’s Guide. He writes,

At baptism, the church soon stops talking about sinful humanity and moves on to proclaim the great good news that God wants all people to be saved by being “joined... to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that now, ahead of us, is the fact that “we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.” (Augsburg Books, page 102)

Dear congregation, we are giving to our three-year olds a copy of the Small Catechism, not because they can read it, but because they can cherish it. It is among their first books. If the promises are kept by their parents and the congregation, these children can grow up to know the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

Many of us do not understand why the part of the liturgy after the sermon is still called “Bath” when there is no baptism taking place. The reason is that the confession of the creed constitutes a return to baptism. In fact, the Milestone observance today is also a return to baptism whereby our children are reminded

Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,
Do not fear, for I am with you. (Isaiah 43:4a, 5a)

Amen.