In this season of baptisms, and given that he’s a bishop, it seems strange to hear the Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel speak proudly of the time he talked some parents out of baptizing their child.
He was convinced the parents were doing it only because other family members insisted.
And that, says Rickel, who is preaching this Easter Sunday at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, is dumbing down the faith.
“My goal is not to baptize as many people (as I can) so I can count them up as Episcopalians,” he said. “My goal is to have an authentic faith that people can really articulate and understand.”
Although I really don’t agree with him on the social issues, I have to say a resounding AMEN to this:
[blockquote]Some recent high-profile cases of Episcopal clergy who have incorporated Buddhist meditation or Islamic prayers into their faith indicates to him that many Episcopalians may not know enough about similar practices — such as centering prayer — in their own tradition.
“We can’t evangelize the world about our particular expression if we don’t even know what it is ourselves,” he says.[/blockquote]
I’ve often wondered this very thing. We have such a rich tradition of prayer so why would people look to the non-Christian religions for new examples. Rickel’s answer is spot on.
I pray he does focus on authentic teaching and belief. That would be a huge step in the right direction.
#1 – subscribe
I don’t see the relevance of the intentions of the parents for deciding whether to baptize a child. Of course, the parents would need to commit to seeing that the child regularly attended church and Sunday school. If a pastor could not obtain this committment by the parents then I think it might be appropiate to temporarily deny baptism. However, if a parent lacked the faith, but for whatever reason wanted their child baptized, why deny the child baptism?
If Rickel is ordaining non-celibate homosexual priests then his message is neither clear nor orthodox. As was recently pointed out in the traditionalist theologians’ paper to TEC this debate gets to the core doctrine of the authority of scripture.
+Greg booted out the gay Dean of St. Marks. But, not for being gay. As near as I can tell, it was for raking $200K off the top of St. Mark’s revenue stream for his salary, whilst laying off staff. I am told there are no Christian symbols at St. Mark’s. It appears to be a bastion of “all roads lead to Rome”. Check out their web site, especially the section on weddings. I am also told that even though she is defrocked, Ann Reading, the muslim former priest, still participates heavily in the life of St. Marks. I have to say that +Greg is emblematic of why NW Bob belongs to an ACNA parish, which is doing okay, thank you.
Phil #2, you bring up an interesting point. Since baptism is initiation into a covenant relationship, I will not baptize someone when it is readily apparent that they are not interested in keeping their end of the covenant and fulfill their baptismal vows. When a child is baptized, the parents, the godparents (sponsors), AND the congregation all agree to support the child as they grow in their faith. If the parent has no commitment to growing in their faith, then how can they train their child? How can they fulfill the vows that they took?
That being said, I do not require that there be a certain level of spiritual maturity with the parents, but merely that it should be apparent that they are on the journey.
What may be a better idea is to wait until the child is older and can make a more mature commitment for themselves. When exactly that should be is a hot topic for debate among clergy and youth parents (i.e. what is a good age for a confirmation class?).
#3 Northwest Bob says:
Then you are told wrong.