Expanding the Seasons for Baptismal Preparation

All four congregations where Kent and I did our research on adult faith formation followed a similar calendar, one inspired by many early church literary sources from the fourth and fifth centuries. Like the early church, these congregations shaped the stages of the adult catechumenate so that the stage of “final preparation” for baptism or for the renewal of baptism culminated with Easter Vigil. Thus, the language and imagery of the Lenten three-year lectionary served as inspiration for the public rituals associated with the stage of final preparation. The Roman Catholic Church paved the way in the 1970s with the development of the Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults; various Protestant denominations have revised and adapted the RC rituals since then.

By the time Kent and I were in graduate school in the 1990s, liturgical scholars were critiquing the limitations of this annual process for pastoral and theological reasons. Pastorally, scholars noted that messy nature of adults seeking to connect (or reconnect) with Christ and the church. Offering a catechumenal process only once a year raises a host of complications and barriers. Theologically, scholars pointed out that while the Lent/Easter pattern was well suited to the baptismal imagery of Romans 6, the biblical language and imagery for baptism is multivalent and richer than this one image or metaphor.

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. [Romans 6:1-4, 5-11]

Many of the scholars critiquing the Lent/Easter model proposed the season of Advent/Christmas as a suitable, alternate time for final preparation, with baptisms/renewal of baptisms taking place on the First Sunday after Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord. Two working groups associated with the North American Association for the Catechumenate (aka, Journey for Baptismal Living) are currently engaged in some preliminary work on catechetical and ritual materials that draw on the Advent lectionary for images and themes, and it’s been my privilege to be part of one these “conversations.”

As background for our upcoming blog series highlighting themes in the Advent lectionary appropriate for the stage of final preparation, I’m sharing a summary of the “western conversation” proposal and rationale. Those part of the “western conversation” agreed it was important to mirror the five weeks/Sundays of the Lenten season and came to consensus on two points. First, theologically, the lectionary readings for the fourth Sunday of Advent anticipate Christmas and the Incarnation and carry themes with more affinity to the birth and baptism of Jesus. Not only does the Advent 4 lectionary move away from the emphasis on the call to conversion and repentance in the first three Sunday of Advent, by Advent 4 many people are traveling. Thus, we agreed that Advent 4 does not lend itself to Sunday rituals involving candidates and sponsors in the stage of final preparation. Second, by extending back into the final Sundays of the previous church year (the readings appointed for November 13-19 and for November 20-26), we would have five Sundays to mirror Lent with appropriate lectionary themes.

Thus, the Season of Advent is imbedded in a five Sunday pattern of final preparation for baptism/renewal of baptism, with these lectionary themes (from the Gospels of the three-year lectionary):

• The Gospel readings for the final two Sundays of the church year have common themes about the end times. Because the Gospel reading for Sundays between November 13-19 include some form of call to repentance and faith, this is a fitting Sunday for both rites inaugurating the stage of final preparation: the rite for Calling to Baptism or for the Call to Continuing Conversion.
• The Gospel readings for the final Sunday (November 20-26) share the theme of Christ as king; our group agreed that this call to confess Christ as King and Lord lends itself to the ritual of handing on the creed of the church.
• The Gospel readings for the First Sunday of Advent continue the end-time theme with Jesus teaching his disciples; the readings share themes of dread from the events in the world and include warnings to be awake or alert for the coming of the Son of man. This Sunday would feature the first of three rites for repentance, healing, and deliverance—the primary themes for the stage of final preparation.
• The Gospel readings for the Second and Third Sundays of Advent introduce John the Baptist and his call to conversion and repentance. These texts also fit well with the rituals of repentance, healing, and deliverance.

In the coming weeks, Kent and I will examine in detail the appointed Gospel readings for these six Sundays—the last two Sundays (using Year C lectionary) and the four Sundays in Advent (using Year A lectionary), drawing out images and language from the biblical texts that can inform the accompanying rituals. Rather than focus on the current lectionary texts, we have chosen to write about the appointed lectionary for a year from now; perhaps our work will inspire a reader to inaugurate an adult faith formation process next year that will culminate with the core rituals on the Baptism of Our Lord. If so, it is our prayer that these posts may serve as a resource.

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Banner Photo: Snowy 2023 Advent in Čakovec, Medjimurie County, Croatia; Silverije, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Advent_u_%C4%8Cakovcu_2023.4.jpg