Why Re-Baptism Isn't Necessary

I get requests from parishioners who have already been baptized to be baptized again.  For a long time my response was to go into a tedious recitation of the reasons why being baptized again makes absolutely no theological sense in the Wesleyan tradition.  And it doesn't.  Baptism in Methodism is sacramental.  It is a visible sign of an inward spiritual grace, representing and acknowledging that God was active in us before we were capable of speaking God's name.  It is in our profession of faith that we choose to accept Christ as Lord.

Now I realize that when a parishioner asks to be baptized again, the impetus actually has nothing to do with wanting to be baptized.  It is about wanting to start over again and be symbolically ridden of whatever guilt, shame, and remorse they are holding onto.  So now I bypass the theology of baptism and tell them that they don't need to be baptized again to start over.  All they have to do is be truly penitent, ask God for forgiveness, and in God's eyes, they have been given a new start.  What they yearn for doesn't require ceremony or ritual.  It just requires a penitent heart and a yearning to be holy.