From the Northern Plains Anglican (Fr. Timothy Fountain) via TitusOneNine:
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I. The Biblical Message
From this Sunday's Epistle, as appointed by the Revised Common Lectionary and displayed on the Episcopal Church lectionary page:
Therefore (Abraham's) faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. (Romans 4)
Got it? Human "righteousness" is received by belief in God, who raised Jesus from the dead. And this Jesus died for our trespasses and it is his new life alone that justifies us before God.
II. Our Current Prayer Book
Even with some goofy additions here and there, the Baptismal rite of The Episcopal Church (1979 Book of Common Prayer) still affirms the Biblical message. Baptism is a sacrament - "an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace" (p. 857).
"The means of grace" in the Prayer Book rite include personal rejection of Satan and spiritual forces of wickedness, evil powers of this world and our own sinful desires (p. 302). The rite recognizes that we need to be "cleansed from sin" (p. 307). It understands that apart from Jesus Christ we remain in our trespasses against God.
The Prayer Book affirms that we are baptized into Christ's death (p. 306) and that in the sacrament we are buried with Christ in his death. Christ's death is the decisive offering to God, and in joining ourselves to it the stain of our trespasses is erased.
Cleansed by the atoning death of Jesus Christ on our behalf, and accepting him as our Savior (p. 302), we can hope to "live in the power of his resurrection" (p. 306) and "continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior" (p. 307). We can stand "justified" before God, not based on a righteousness of our own but on Christ's death and resurrection, to which we are joined in the sacrament of baptism.
The rite admits that we will sin and need to repent and return to the Lord, even after baptism (p. 304).
III. A non-Prayer Book "baptism" now used in some Episcopal churches.
You can see it here. (h/t "martin5" )[link to: http://www.allsaintscompany.org/resources/scripts/C49/]
It removes the word "sacrament" from the rite. It reduces baptism to an organizational membership ceremony of some kind.
It has NO renunciation of evil. It does not admit to the reality of Satan, spiritual evil, worldly corruption or our own sinful desires. It does not warn that this false Trinity of the world, the flesh and the devil can separate us from God - rather, it says that "new birth is a gift that none can take away." There is no expression of the need to continually "repent and return to the Lord." Baptism is a magical, immediate entitlement to eternal life. It claims to "bestow the forgiveness of sin" without ever really acknowledging our status as creatures who have trespassed in rebellion against our Creator.
It has a few holdover phrases from the '79 Prayer Book, but is completely detached from the Biblical message. In fact, it removes some of the most Biblically accurate statements from the '79 BCP. "... made members of your Church" (yes, big "C") displaces deliverance "from bondage to sin" in the Thanksgiving over the Water.
+++
The non-Prayer Book ceremony is a radical rejection of the radical reintroduction of The Great Vigil of Easter in the 1979 BCP. The Great Vigil begins with the reading of "Salvation History", detailing our rebellion against God and salvation through the waters of baptism. That this is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ is made clear by the assignment of Romans 6:3-11, including
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
And the Collect for the Vigil Eucharist beautifully summarizes the Biblical message:
Almighty God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The differences between the '79 Book and the other rite suggest the choice between initiation into a club and baptism into Jesus Christ himself. They present the contrast of man-made religion with the revealed Gospel of the Savior... and I say this in full realization that the '79 rite has its own human innovations compared to prior BCPs. We are way down the slippery slope, and the denomination keeps rolling boulders down on us.
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