Orphic

Few things in this life fill me with such overwhelming emotion as baptism. No matter where I am, no matter who it is, no matter what else is happening in my own life, I am struck with the beauty of it.

However, I can't tell you why.

Sure, I could explore the theological, sacramental, liturgical significance for you. I could give you a list of ways that baptism has been important in the history of the local and global church. I have fairly strong opinions on whether or not baptism should occur as a sign of church membership or the beginning of discipleship. I could tell you a lot about what a church believes to be true about baptism based on where their baptismal is located. I could tell you heartwarming stories about the baptisms of people I love.

But none of it really reaches the heart of my response. All of the things above are real and true, and at the same time I know none of them are the reason that baptism, without exception, brings me to tears. And I don't mean "It's just so touching I could cry." I have that emotion daily. I mean passionate, unstoppable response - the kind of tears that refuse to be swallowed and beg to be celebrated with shouts of joy. That painful, otherworldly, irresistible reaction to something so much Greater, that is the source of my tears.

That's it, I suppose. Greater. My faith is personal and intimate, but it is also logical. I thrive in the intellectual realm of faith, the theology, the discussion, the debate, the reality that He is so much more that I could spend my whole life studying and never know Him fully - He is the great and immeasurable God who has deemed to make Himself known to us. This fact leaves me in awe, but it is just that. A fact. Often I lose myself in the facts and theories and explanations of faith - with great joy, I must add. But few things still awaken the passion that begs to be screamed, to be wept, to be danced.

Baptism does. It is the sign of something Greater. Something I will never study enough to grasp in its fullness. That kingdom of already and not yet. Our God is so faithful to be so present in the realms of both logic and emotion.


orphic
adj. mysterious and entrancing; beyond ordinary understanding.