
Kent Burreson
Posts by Kent Burreson:


The Risen Christ, Our Justification
At the center of the catechumenal journey is the Pascha/Passover of our Lord Jesus Christ from death to life. It is the fundamental work of God that transforms the human person from rebel against God to trusting daughter or son. It is the event that reveals God’s heart of mercy and grace toward God’s creatures. The Pascha of Christ is truly the event that makes all things new. It is that hope toward which Martin Luther in this sermon on 1 Peter.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Pet.1:3
How, or by what means has such rebirth come to pass? He says, Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; as if he would say, God the Father has begotten us again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, that is, of the Word of truth, which is a power of God which re-creates and quickens and saves all who believe in it. What sort of a Word is that? It is the Word of Jesus Christ which is preached unto us, namely, that He died for your sin and for the sin of the whole world, and rose again on the third day, that through His resurrection He might win for us justification, life, and blessedness. Whoever believes in this message, namely, that Christ died and is risen for his sake, with him the resurrection has proved its power. He is reborn through it, which means that He is created anew after the image of God, He receives the Holy Ghost and knows the gracious will of God, and has such a heart, mind, courage, will, and thoughts as no hypocrite ever had or anyone who believes in salvation through his own works. For he knows that no works of the law and no righteousness of his own, but Christ alone in His suffering and resurrection, can make him just and blessed.
This is rightly called apostolic preaching (Exposition of 1 Peter. W.A. 52.11).
So rejoice in the resurrection of Christ, your justification, life, and blessedness. Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

OCIA: Prayers at the Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer
This week we turn to one of the final rites of the period of Enlightenment before Holy Saturday: The Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer to the Elect. As I indicated in a previous post on this rite, the presentation of the Lord’s Prayer takes place either on or following the Third Scrutiny on the 5th Sunday in Lent. The RCIA recommends a weekday, while Welcome to Christ designates the Fifth Sunday in Lent.
This rite, along with the presentation of the Creed, makes the most sense in the midst of a regular dismissal of the catechumens to study the Word during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. They would not be praying the Lord’s Prayer as part of the liturgical assembly. While this would presumably not be their first introduction to the Lord’s Prayer, it would be their first opportunity to truly make it their own.
In the RCIA and OCIA, following the presentation of the Our Father, there is an invitation to prayer and a collect for the rite. While surprisingly the invitation and prayer in the RCIA/OCIA do not contain any explicit references to the Lord’s Prayer or to prayer in general, Welcome to Christ includes a call to commitment to prayer for each season of the church year. The text for year B reads, “As the disciples were taught to follow Jesus by living their life for others, so the church prays for you and for all the needs of the world, confident in the life-giving presence and mercy of Christ” (Welcome to Christ, 32). With this rite the elect have been given two primary elements of their catechetical formation in the faith and are prepared to confess and pray them at their initiation into Christ through Holy Baptism.
And since this is our last nerdy post comparing the prayers during Enlightenment in the RCIA and OCIA, I decided to follow Rhoda’s lead and nerd out completely by including the Latin of the prayer texts. (Those of you who have put up with all of this can be comforted in knowing that it all comes to an end on the eve of Palm and Passion Sunday!)
Even more so than last week, since these prayers are translated in a much different fashion, the contrast between formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence is apparent. As Rhoda noted last week, here the RCIA text reflects poetic language evocative of the human experience. And yet some of the language in the OCIA texts is bold and evocative of the moment in the catechumenal journey.
As in past weeks I have highlighted certain words and phrases, and I will discuss them by numbered section:
RCIA, 1972
(1) Let us pray for these elect, that God in his mercy may make them responsive to his love, so that (2) through the waters of rebirth they may receive pardon for their sins and have life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(3) Almighty and eternal God, you continually enlarge the family of your Church. Deepen the faith and understanding of these elect, chosen for baptism.(4) Give them new birth in your living waters, so that they may be numbered among your adopted children (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Liturgy Training Publications, 1988, 113).
Editio Typica, 1972
(1) Oremus pro electis nostris, ut Deus et Dominus noster adaperiat aures praecordiorum ipsorum ianuamque misericordiae, ut (2) per lavacrum regenerationis, accepta remissione omnium peccatorum, et ipsi inveniantur in Christo Iesu Domino nostro.
(3) Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui Ecclesiam tuam nova semper prole fecundas, auge fidem et intellectum electis nostris, ut, (4) renati fonte Baptismatis, adoptionis tuae filiis aggregentur.
OCIA, 2025
(1) Let us pray for our elect, that our God and Lord will open the ears of their innermost hearts and the gate of mercy, so that, (2) receiving remission of all sins through the cleansing waters of rebirth, they too may be found in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(3) Almighty ever-living God, who make your Church ever fruitful with new offspring, increase the faith and understanding of our elect, that, (4) reborn in the font of Baptism, they may be added to the number of your adopted children (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, The Liturgical Press, 2018, 147-8).
- The OCIA follows the Latin closely by referring to the elect as “our” rather than “these” elect. It is a much more corporate and intimate designation, reflecting of the church’s fellowship. On the other hand, “gate of mercy,” while reflective of the Latin, fails to convey that God’s mercy is active in the life of the elect. The same is true of “opening the ears of their innermost hearts.” Some combination of the two texts would be very poetic: “opening their ears that they might respond to his love.”
- “Pardon” communicates much better than “remission.” I regretted that in my own tradition we didn’t change the language of “remission” in the Nicene Creed to “forgiveness.” Remission is not an obsolete word in this sense, but it is archaic. Trying to capture the language of the Latin, literally the “bath of regeneration,” the OCIA refers to baptism as the “cleansing waters.” Very evocative language. But while “be found” captures inveniantur well, it is fairly pedantic in comparison to “have life.”
- The first clause in part 3 makes it sound like the church is simply part of the animal kingdom. While it is still fairly common to refer to children as offspring, the entire phrase diminishes the reality of the church’s growth. The RCIA is much more active in cadence: “you continually enlarge the family of your Church.” Likewise, “deepen” conveys better what is happening for the elect at this point in the catehumenate.
- By creating a new sentence in place of the relative clause the RCIA better conveys the nature of this wonder in the making: “new birth in your living waters.” However, the reference to the font of Baptism, reflecting the Latin, provides a definite locatedness to the rebirth. Why not “new birth through the living waters in the font of Baptism.” “Added” versus “numbered”? Neither is particularly more evocative than the other, but “added” follows the Latin more closely.
There we have it. As I said in the first post in this series, nerdy as it may seem, important issues such as clear understanding and participation in the process by which God through the church is making new Christians is at stake in the translations and in any Lutheran adaptation of them. Failure to understand and participate hinders the vary process of making Christians through the catechumenate itself. And hopefully these prayer texts have invited you into the paschal mystery as we have made the journey to the paschal feast in sincerity and truth.

Order of Christian Initiation of Adults: Prayers of the Second Scrutiny
This week in our nerdy journey we take up the prayers of the Second Scrutiny rite in the OCIA/RCIA. As Rhoda indicated last week, “our goal is to set forth some principles for making sound theological and pastoral decisions when borrowing rites and prayers from a variety of sources. Our nerdiness is earnest and with good purpose.” Just like the catechumenate itself!
The Second Scrutiny, often on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, follows the Presentation of the Creed. As we saw with the First Scrutiny, the orientation and purpose of the scrutinies in the modern RCIA is for the elect to “renounce sin and evil and profess faith in the Triune God at their baptism” (Guide for Celebrating Christian Initiation with Adults, 58). The Second Scrutiny follows the same pattern as the first (see the first post in this series for that pattern). The gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Lent is the account of Jesus’ healing of the man born blind, John 9:1-41. The Second Scrutiny in light of this gospel reading emphasizes to the elect the ways in which blindness might affect them and where they need the light of Christ “so that they might see the truth” (Guide, 60). Seeing the truth, who is the Light of the world, is central to the conversion experience facilitated through the catechumenate. It leads them toward enlivened faith in the Triune God throughout the catechumenate culminating in God’s enlightening them in the baptismal water of their Jordan. These prayers for enlightenment direct the Elect to see their liberation from sin, evil, and the power of Satan in Christ Jesus. How do these prayers facilitate the Elect’s participation in the story told in John 9 as those born unable to see the light who are now led into the kingdom of light?
Here are the texts of both. The first prayer is the lead collect and the second prayer is the actual prayer of exorcism. Major differences are highlighted in italicized bold.
Father of mercy, you led the man born blind to the kingdom of light through the gift of faith in your Son. Free these elect from the false values that surround and blind them. Set them firmly in your truth, children of the light forever. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Lord Jesus, you are the true light that enlightens the world. Through your Spirit of truth free those enslaved by the father of lies. Stir up the desire for good in these elect, whom you have chosen for your sacraments. Let them rejoice in your light, that they may see, and, like the man born blind whose sight you restored, let them prove to be staunch and fearless witnesses to the faith, for you are Lord for ever and ever (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Liturgy Training Publications, 1988, 98-9).
Most merciful Father, who granted the man born blind to believe in your Son, and through this faith to come to the kingdom of your light, grant also that your elect here present may be freed from deceits that surround and blind them, so that firmly grounded in the truth, they may become children of light and remain so forever. Through Christ our Lord.
Lord Jesus, true light who enlightens all people, by the Spirit of truth free all who are oppressed beneath the yoke of the Father of lies, and stir up good will in those you have chosen for your Sacraments, that, delighting in the joy of your light, and, like the blind man you once restored to sight, they may prove to be staunch and fearless witnesses to the faith. Who live and reign forever and ever (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, The Liturgical Press, 2018, 132-133).
- Light and Blindness: The man born blind and his encounter with Jesus is the focus of the story. Earthly light is unable to penetrate his sight. But his more profound inability to see is that he cannot see the Light of the world, Jesus the Christ. And so it is for the Elect. They are entering the kingfom of light just as he did. While both the OCIA and RCIA texts communicate this, in the first prayer the OCIA does it in a very clunky mechanistic way: “Granted and come to” versus “Led.” There is a simplistic elegance in God the Father leading the catechumens to the Light. In the second prayer the change from “world” to “people” has both positive and negative repercussions. The conversion of humanity is at the forefront of Jesus’ mission. But ultimately it leads to the enlightenment of the whole world.
- Faith and Kingdom: Lutheran proclivities shine through with the juxtaposition of these images. Entrance into the kingdom of light is through the sight of faith. In the OCIA the language implies that faith is the beginning of that entry: “through this faith to come to the kingdom of your light.” The RCIA implies that entrance into the kingdom is purely and always by faith: “you led the man born blind to the kingdom of light through the gift of faith in your Son.”
- Freedom and Deceits: The implications of enlightenment that leads the catechumens into the kingdom of light is that they are free from bondage in the darkness of sin, evil, and Satan. That is the ritual intention of the scrutiny rites: to effect that deliverance. Here the OCIA better captures the nature of the bondage: “freed from deceits.” However, the RCIA captures better the nihilistic age in which we live: “from the false values.” Make your pick depending upon what you are trying to emphasize. In the second prayer the OCIA is simply much more cumbersome: “free all who are oppressed beneath the yoke of the father of lies.” The RCIA is much more direct: “free those who are enslaved by the father of lies.” There is a simple earnestness of the church on behalf of the catechumens in the RCIA version.
- Delighting in joy versus Rejoicing: Here it is apparent how the traditional collect form imposes a certain clumsiness on the language. The RCIA concludes prayer #2 with the words “Let them rejoice in your light.” A result of entering the kingdom of light is pure rejoicing, in very active terms. I am reminded of the redeemed in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. There is pure rejoicing at being IN the light that streams from the city of God. Because the OCIA prayer has to make this a subordinate clause, the direct sense of the active and intensive activity of rejoicing is lost: “that, delighting in the joy of your light.” Delighting in the light is certainly delightful, but it is not the same as full-throated rejoicing. Granted, both will be a result of the entrance of the catechumens into the kingdom of light and of all believers into the eternal kingdom of light.
Admittedly these assessments are subtle. But they matter because the rhetoric of faith matters in the ritual moment. And that ritual moment is that all of us might be set firmly in God’s truth, even Jesus Christ our Lord, and be “children of the light forever.”

Order of Christian Initiation of Adults: Prayers of the First Scrutiny
Last week we discussed the approaches to translating the texts of the Roman Catholic Latin rites of the catechumenate reflected in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and in the new Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. This week we begin teasing out how those changes are reflected in the actual translations. Our first case study are the prayers of the First Scrutiny Rite on the 3rd Sunday in Lent. As I (Kent) noted in this blog several moons ago the orientation and purpose of the scrutinies in the modern RCIA is to allow the elect to renounce sin and evil and to make their profession of faith in the Triune God at their baptism. The scrutinies ritually express the turn from the lordship of sin, evil, and the devil and submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The scrutiny rites are structured according to this pattern:
- Readings from Series A (woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus, seeking to illuminate the lives of the elect)
- Homily (which includes exploration of the meaning of the scrutiny)
- Silent prayer by the presider, sponsors, elect, and the assembly
- Intercessions for the elect
- Exorcism Prayer
- [Psalm/Hymn/Song]
- Dismissal of the elect
We will focus on the Exorcism Prayers. The Exorcism Prayers contain three parts: An initial prayer over all of the elect; individual silent prayer by the presider over each of the elect; a concluding prayer over all of the elect. I am going to focus this week on the first prayer of the exorcism prayers. In terms of the assessment of the prayers we should keep in mind two things. First, this Sunday through the Gospel reading focuses on Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and her conversion to faith in the Messiah. Second, the primary orientations in terms of translation under the guidance of Comme le prévoit for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and Liturgiam Authenticam for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. The former is “hearer-oriented” while being textually faithful. It wants the text to make sense for the hearer in that given linguistic context. The latter focuses on formal correspondence, translating the Latin as faithfully and literally as possible while creating a text that flows in the vernacular language in the rhythm of popular prayer.
Here are the two initial prayer texts from the Exorcism Prayer (RCIA first, OCIA second):
God of power, you sent your Son to be our Savior. Grant that these catechumens, who, like the woman of Samaria, thirst for living water, may turn to the Lord as they hear his word and acknowledge the sins and weaknesses that weigh them down. Protect them from vain reliance on self and defend them from the power of Satan. Free them from the spirit of deceit, so that, admitting the wrong they have done, they may attain purity of heart and advance on the way to salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, Liturgy Training Publications, 1988, 84).
O God, who sent your Son to us as Savior, grant that these elect, who desire to draw living water like the Samaritan woman and have been converted by the Word of the Lord, may acknowledge the hindrance of their own sins and weaknesses. Do not permit them, we pray, to rely on a vain confidence in themselves, and to be deceived by the power of the devil, but free them from the spirit of untruth, so that, recognizing their sinfulness, they may be cleansed inwardly and advance on the way of salvation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, The Liturgical Press, 2018, 116-117).
Note that both texts pray for the elect in light of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus. Thus, the prayer is intended to allow the elect to understand their own conversion to trust in Christ and his lordship from within the story of the Samaritan woman, to read their life in light of that story. How well does either prayer accomplish that? I’ll return to that at the end. In addition, note that the OCIA prayer is written in traditional collect fashion. It is one continuous prayer. The RCIA translation is written according to modern English syntax and oral patterns with shorter sentences and phrases, but still following the ancient collect structure.
Now let’s examine five different phrases in the two translations:
- “thirst for living water” versus “desire to draw living water.” The RCIA text expresses faith in more active vocabulary that reflects the Gospel narrative. The OCIA is more abstract.
- “turn to the Lord as they hear his word” versus “converted by the word of the Lord.” The RCIA text reflects the effective power of the Word through hearing it in the catechumenate as the means by which the Lord converts people. The active engagement with the oral word is lost in the OCIA version.
- “sins and weaknesses that weigh them down” versus “may acknowledge the hindrance of their own sins and weaknesses.” Weigh is much more evocative language than hindrance in conveying the effect of sin.
- “spirit of deceit” versus “the spirit of untruth.” Both of these phrases are effective but communicate differently. The RCIA focuses on how Satan’s lordship deceives the human. The OCIA focuses on how Satan’s lordship leads away from the truth in Christ.
- “attain purity of heart” versus “cleansed inwardly.” For a Lutheran, neither of these are possible in this life so the prayer would need to be adapted to reflect the striving for this in sanctification while acknowledging it is only realized in the eschaton. However, the RCIA language is yet more evocative. Envisioning what being cleansed inwardly looks like is challenging.
So, how well does either prayer facilitate the elect reading their lives in light of the Gospel reading? The evocative vocabulary and language reflective of modern English thought patterns and usage of the RCIA translation, allows the hearer to hear their life in light of the reading in deeper and more profound ways.

Order of Christian Initiation of Adults: Translating the Rites
We embark on a series during Lent that might seem the height of all nerdiness to some (and Rhoda and I might rightly be accused of being liturgical nerds). With the appearance of the new 2018 translation of the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults last November from the Roman Catholic Church, it seemed appropriate to us to begin exploring this new translation. It is the form of catechumenate that the Roman Catholics will be using in English into the foreseeable future. So, we will compare prayer texts over the next five weeks from the stage of enlightenment and final preparation for baptism from the former process, The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, and the new translation, with each other. Nerdy as it may seem, important issues such as clear understanding and participation in the process by which God through the church is making new Christians is at stake in the translations and in any Lutheran adaptation of them. Failure to understand and participate hinders the vary process of making Christians through the catechumenate itself.
What got this whole process of providing new translations for all the Roman liturgical books and rites started was the 2001 document Liturgiam Authenticam: Fifth Instruction on Vernacular Translation in the Roman Liturgy. Since in many ways some of the translations immediately after Vatican II were considered provisional, it was expected that new translations would appear in the future. All the original translations were guided by the first instruction Comme le prévoit of 1969, which was supplanted essentially by Liturgiam Authenticam. The catechumenate was one of the last documents to be translated anew. Comme le prévoit operated under the translation principle of dynamic equivalence. As John Baldovin observes, “It is as concerned with the receiver as it is with the original text. In other words, how is this text going to make sense (in an oral/aural fashion) for the listeners? This approach gave translators great leeway in fashioning texts and inspired avoiding a wooden literalism when translating” (Baldovin, 117). Liturgiam Authenticam on the other hand operated under the principle of formal correspondence, a literal, word-for-word approach. As Liturgiam Authenticam itself says,
“The translation of the liturgical texts of the Roman Liturgy is not so much a work of creative innovation as it is of rendering the original texts faithfully and accurately into the vernacular language. While it is permissible to arrange the wording, the syntax and the style in such a way as to prepare a flowing vernacular text suitable to the rhythm of popular prayer, the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses. Any adaptation to the characteristics or the nature of the various vernacular language is to be sober and discreet” (Liturgiam Authenticam, 49; italics mine).
In previous translations, such as the Missal, some of the prayer texts are cumbersome and lack clarity in meaning. Is that the case for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults under the principle of formal correspondence? Or do they achieve their own goal according to Liturgiam Authenticam of providing “language which is easily understandable, yet at the same time preserves these texts’ dignity, beauty, and doctrinal precision?” (Liturgiam Authenticam, 25). Only an examination of the texts from the RCIA versus The Order can determine that. One that was helpful and positive was the change of title. The RCIA was always a series of rites, a process including significant ritual action that birthed new Christians. It is an order, a process that identifies and creates a vocation, in this case catechumens, within the church’s life. And, as Stephen Wilbricht notes, “We have long been accustomed to abbreviating the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults as the RCIA. It is time that we cease this unfortunate habit” [Wilbricht, “Synodality, Baptismal Ecclesiology, and Welcoming a Newly Translated Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, Worship 98 (October 2024), 305].
So, nerd away on prayer texts we shall over the next five weeks as we make the journey to the paschal feast in sincerity and truth. May these prayer texts invite us into that mystery. And may we keep in mind the words of Pope Paul VI when he said of the sacrifice of the priceless treasure of the Latin for the vernacular languages, “What is worth more than these sublime values of the church. The answer may seem trite and prosaic, but it is sound because it is both human and apostolic. Our understanding of prayer is worth more than the previous, ancient garments in which it has been regally clad. Of more value, too, is the participation of the people” (quoted in John Baldovin, Reforming the Liturgy, 117). Undoubtedly a truly catholic sentiment.

Images of Baptism: Sacrament and Seal of the Holy Spirit
In our last post Rhoda concluded by highlighting the two primary biblical images of baptism: the tomb and the womb. Permeating those two primary images is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is a thread through all of the images of baptism because as Maxwell Johnson says, “the one great and single mystery of our Christian faith” is the “unitive nature of Jesus’ death and resurrection and [the] gift of the Holy Spirit” (Images of Baptism, 73). Yet, as a thread through all of the images of baptism we can lose sight of the Spirit as gift and of the Spirit’s work. This happened in ritual history with the dissolution in the removal of baptismal sealing (anointing) from baptism itself and the creation of the distinct sacrament/rite of growth, confirmation. So, we must focus on the gift as a seal of the Holy Spirit as a distinct image of baptism. Paul himself does this in Ephesians when he says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit is poured out on the disciples of Christ Jesus abundantly through baptism. It seals us in the Holy Spirit who both fills and surrounds our living as children of God. The intent is that that seal is both complete and enduring into the kingdom of God. As Johnson says,
“It is the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God in us, who conforms us to the dying and rising of Christ in our lives, who brings us to new birth and regenerates us to new life in the living waters and womb of the font, who seals us in down payment for redemption, who gives us special charisms and gifts for the building up of and living within Christ’s body, the church, the Spirit of God who directs us in our mission of reconciling love, forgiveness and justice in the world, the Spirit alone who makes it possible for us to say, “We believe” or “I believe” in the first place” (Images of Baptism, 74-75).
The Holy Spirit is sent by Christ as our anointing in Him in baptism so that we might live at the direction of the Spirit.
It is that anointing in baptism by the Holy Spirit that is symbolized and expressed through the postbaptismal anointings in the western tradition. Historically the West has had a presbyteral anointing and an episcopal anointing. Whether we are talking about both as independent ritual actions or a combination of them, they both express that through the Word in the water the person is anointed with the Holy Spirit. As Johnson says, the baptismal water and the Spirit go together inseparably (80). “It is the presence and gift of the Holy Spirit that makes all the difference in the world in terms of baptism’s meaning and significance. Christian baptism is ‘baptism with the Holy Spirit!’” (Images of Baptism, 80).
This should have significant implications for our practice of baptism and of the catechumenate. As Johnson shows through the New Testament witness and as an implication of the anointing of the Spirit, all baptismal life in Christ is directed by the Spirit. If the Spirit is poured out in baptism, then that should be ritually expressed by anointing in baptism. It should not be delayed to the rite of confirmation. Doing so deconstructs the reality that as Johnson says, “all life in Christ is dependent upon the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit” (Images of Baptism, 82). Baptism as the gift of the Holy Spirit calls for the practice of post-baptismal anointing.
The practice of the catechumenate bears out the reality that all life in Christ is dependent upon the Spirit. In no way can the catechumenate be understood as some great Pelagian enterprise, as Johnson indicates (Images of Baptism, 88). “A clear baptismal spirituality places the emphasis where it should be: on God, the great author and initiator of salvation” (Images of Baptism, 88). Conversion through the catechumenal process, as Johnson notes, is grounded in the Spirit’s activity and “the Holy Spirit is active before, in and after baptism” (Images of Baptism, 89). The catechumenate is the ground for the Spirit’s activity through the Word. As Johnson indicates, “Baptism invites the gathered assembly to faith, trust, dependency and receptivity to the sheer gift of God’s baptismal grace. The minds and hearts of that assembly are to be continually directed back to the foundational realities of new birth and new life in the Spirit” (Images of Baptism, 91). That is exactly what the catechumenate does in all its fullness.
Baptism as the seal of the Holy Spirit is in the end about everything regarding Christian faith and life post Christ’s ascension. “Questions about faith, justification, spirituality, ecclesiology, eschatology and the meaning of the eucharist are ultimately always questions about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s role in forming people as believers in and disciples of Christ” (Images of Baptism, 102). Sounds very much like the catechumenate to me!
Banner photo: Post-baptismal anointing with chrism at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, The Bronx, New York.

Images of Baptism: Participation in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ
It is the quintessential image of baptismal images as Paul says in Romans 6: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). Since Vatican II with its proclamation of the Paschal Mystery, it has become the chief image for baptism. The primary pattern of culminating the catechumenal process at the Easter Vigil as expressing Christ’s Passover from death to life has only cemented this primary association. In its predominancy lies both the challenge and the gift. The challenge? Ignoring other images in deference to this one. The remainder of the blogs in this series will address that challenge. The gift? In Maxwell Johnson’s words, “How, then, might this foundational and rich image or metaphor of baptismal death, burial and resurrection in Christ be rescued from the realm of contemporary cliché and brought to new life within the church today?” (Images of Baptism, 5).
New life for this image surfaces under a number of themes. First, Johnson acknowledges that death must truly be death for us. There must be no escaping it. We must let death be death. That means we must experience our dying as death. Quoting Jennifer Glenn, he notes the unassailing loss of death: “The vision of death lurking within the experience of sickness seems to cut off the future absolutely, at least from the experiential and imaginative viewpoint. With the loss of the future goes the loss of meaning…life and its relationships threaten to become absurd” (8). In this experience death is not cosmetized at all. And Christ’s death must fully be death. He must be encountered as the crucified Christ who cries out in his forsakenness.
Experiencing death as death raises the question, what does our death and burial in him mean? Well, it means hope. As Johnson says, “For Paul, baptism is really about our participation in the death and burial of Christ in the hope of our ultimate resurrection in him….Whatever the future holds in Christ, because of baptism death itself is a reality and experience already behind us! . . . Because of baptism into Christ we are already dead! (18-19).
This means for Christians that baptism becomes, as they approach death, the rehearsal for death. Quoting the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin who wrote of his own impending death, “Our participation in the paschal mystery—in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus—brings a certain freedom: the freedom to let go, to surrender ourselves to the living God, to place ourselves completely in his hands, knowing that ultimately he will win out!….It’s in the act of abandonment that we experience redemption, that we find life, peace, and joy in the midst of physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering” (23).
That experience of hope in the midst of death—a baptismal experience—has implications for a church that lives as though dead in the world. Living in hope as a result of dying and rising in Christ means that the church can fully live in mission to the world that God will renew in the living One. As Johnson expresses, “A church dead and buried by baptism into Christ is liberated from the fear of death itself and, therefore, can dare to risk itself in a mission of suffering service in the world because it knows and seeks to know only the cross and suffering with the world as the way to resurrection” (28). A church buried with Christ in baptism into his death is a church that can live in the resurrection for the sake of the world. So Johnson can affirm, “From that watery grave emerges a servant community of the cross, which expects nothing other than what its Servant-Master himself endured and experienced. Who knows what kind of church might yet arise when such baptismal-Paschal Mystery imagery is embraced by the baptized themselves?” (29). Then baptism into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ will truly be a living metaphor in the life of the redeemed community of the crucified One.

Images of Baptism: The Full Baptismal Plunge
The ecumenical report Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (WCC, 1982)—a valuable indication of where the various member denominations stood on those practices both theologically and ritually—said that the images of baptism “are many but the reality is one” (II, A-E). It is that plurality of images that we intend to explore in this new series over the next four weeks through the book Images of Baptism by Maxwell Johnson. We recommend the book to you as a basis for studying the various sets of images of baptism in your catechumenate or in congregational Bible studies. It provides a biblical and liturgical summary of the us of these primary sets of images in the church:
- Baptism as Participation in the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Christ
- Baptism as New Birth and Adoption by Water and the Holy Spirit
- Baptism as the Sacrament and Seal of the Holy Spirit
- Baptism as Incorporation into the Body of Christ
This week and over the next four weeks we’ll take up each of the images on the basis of Dr. Johnson’s book and reflect upon the plurality of images of the one reality: baptism.
How amazing though is the gift of that plurality. Johnson’s introduction begins with a quote from Cyril of Jerusalem’s Procatechesis (introductory lecture to the elect) that reveals the multitude of ways in which baptism is participation in the work of God in Jesus:
Great indeed is the baptism which is offered you. It is a ransom to captives; the remission of offences; the death of sin; the regeneration of the soul; the garment of light; the holy seal indissoluble; the chariot to heaven; the luxury of paradise; a procuring of the kingdom; the gift of adoption” (Cross, Lectures on the Christian Sacraments, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1977, 50).
The gifts that baptism imparts through the Word associated with the ritual washing and “plunge into the waters of the font with Christ” (Johnson, xiii). We want to receive those gifts and be able to impart them through our catechumenal preaching, teaching, and ritual practice. As Johnson says regarding the intent of the book,
“An attempt toward recovering those images for the church today. As such, these images provide for us models by which we might glimpse some of the manifold riches that baptism is and offers to us. Hence, we might say that it is precisely a variety of models for conceptualizing, catechizing and celebrating baptism that these images provide” (Johnson, ix).
The models encapsulate the primary sets of images that the Scriptures and the liturgical reflection of the church employ to enrich our experience of baptism. As Johnson notes, they are intend to “give rise to thought and invite further reflection” (Johnson, x). That is what we intend to do with this series as well. We hope it will spur your thinking so that your baptismal practice, catechesis, and preaching is as baptismally rich and full as possible. We hope these blog posts will allow you to consider the multitude of metaphors for participation in baptism and in baptismal living.

Christmas Greetings: Excerpt from a Sermon of St. John Chrysostom
“This wonder fills me with astonishment!” So St. John Chrysostom (347-407) says in a Christmas day sermon. In this excerpt Chrysostom points to the way of discipleship that one enters through the catechumenate, a way that begins with God and the incarnation and birth of the Word, the Ancient of Days.
- He comes that he might make the Great Exchange of his life with ours: “For this he assumed my body, that I may become capable of his Word; taking my flesh, he gives me his spirit; and so he bestowing and I receiving, he prepares for me the treasure of life.”
- Through that Great Exchange we journey along a new path, a new way (begun in the catechumenate): “a heavenly way of life has been implanted on the earth,” “a clear path” upon which all of his disciples walk in Him.
May these ancient words by the “Golden Mouthed” draw our readers to contemplate the Incarnation and Nativity of the Lord and its meaning in daily life in new and wondrous ways.
What shall I say! And how shall I describe this birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of Days has become an infant. He who sits upon the sublime and heavenly throne, now lies in a manger. And he who cannot be touched, who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of men. He who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infant’s bands. But he has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and total humiliation the measure of his goodness.
For this he assumed my body, that I may become capable of his Word; taking my flesh, he gives me his spirit; and so he bestowing and I receiving, he prepares for me the treasure of life. He takes my flesh to sanctify me; he gives me his Spirit, that he may save me.
Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error is driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been implanted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels.
Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side, all things commingle. He became flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore he became flesh, so that he whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive. He was placed in a manger so that he, by whom all things are nourished, may receive an infant’s food from his virgin mother. So, the Father of all ages, as an infant at the breast, nestles in the virginal arms that the Magi may more easily see him. Since this day, the Magi too have come, and made a beginning of withstanding tyranny; and the heavens give glory, as the Lord is revealed by a star.
To him, then, who out of confusion has wrought a clear path, to Christ, to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, we offer all praise, now and forever. Amen.