Missing the Point about Baptism

This Sunday is Baptism of the Lord Sunday in the liturgical year.  It naturally leads to reflection about the nature and significance of baptism.  In the Christian tradition, discussion about baptism is normally framed in terms of understanding who can be baptized and how they can be baptized.  That is, there is significant disagreement about whether baptism requires immersion or can be accomplished by sprinkling or pouring.  There is also disagreement about whether infant baptism should be practiced, which is the practice of my own Wesleyan tradition as well as many other traditions (e.g. Roman Catholicism, most orthodox traditions, Anglican traditions), or restricted to adult believers

I realized this last week as I thought about baptism that these very questions miss the real point about the nature of baptism.  Baptism should be all about celebration.  It celebrates the fact that God seeks to enter into relationship with us and seeks our redemption and transformation, and that this good work began in us before we had the opportunity to respond.  Baptism is not something that should be practiced out of obligation.  By analogy, when the weather begins to get warm, people will start to gather at Centennial Park in Nashville with their blankets and picnic baskets to enjoy the sun and the warm weather.  They are not told or instructed that this is required to be a citizen of Davidson County, Tennessee.  It is not an obligation or regulation that is being followed out of necessity or obligation.  It is something that happens naturally out of our celebration of the renewal of life.

Baptism should be the same.  Jesus was baptized in the Jordan to celebrate that God had entered into the world to bring reconciliation and redemption.