Raised In A New Life

Raised in a New Life

Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Romans 6:3-4

When Amish young people are ready to join the church, they must be baptized first. They are considered to be adults and able to make lifelong commitments to God and their communities.

The baptism takes place at the end of the service. After the two sermons the bishop offers a personal admonition to those being baptized. A deacon leaves the service and returns with a small pail of water and a tin cup. The applicants are reminded of the lifetime vow they have made to God. Then they kneel and are asked three questions:

1. Can you renounce the devil, the world, and your own flesh and blood?
2. Can you commit yourself to Christ and His church, and to abide by it and therein to live and to die?
3. And in all the order (Ordnung) of the church, according to the word of the Lord, to be obedient and submissive to it and to help therein?

With the applicants still kneeling, the congregation then rises for prayer, and the bishop “reads one of the simple prayers from Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht, a prayer book of the Swiss Anabaptists.” This is a meaningful time for the Amish young people because they are now considered fully committed to God and to their community.

Have you been baptized? The baptism services you might have seen—or participated in—may look different, but the core is the same. It’s a solemn profession that we have died to our lives—our wills—and have accepted Christ’s in return. We live with a new reality. And the same glory that raised Christ from the dead now lives within us.

Have you taken time recently to appreciate the significance of baptism? If not, now is a perfect time to do that.

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for new life in Christ. My life is not mine. Use me, Lord, no matter what is at stake.