Indelible

Fun fact: people excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church are still technically considered Christian and Catholic. Mind you, excommunication isnt' a desirable state, as the excommunicant is denied the confession, absolution, and the Eucharist. But somehow I always thought of excommunication as a permanent condemnation, the Catholic version of Steven Anderson's reprobation, where God decides that you as a sinner have simply gone too far and removes forever any hope of salvation.

Not so for Catholics. Why? Because of baptism, which occurs for Catholics in infancy (generally) and which they consider indelible.

I like that word, indelible. I first heard it in relation to Methodists' understanding of baptism. To be sure, Methodists and Catholics understand the rite of infant baptism differently. But for both, the inclusion into God's care that it implies cannot be removed. Like their understanding of communion, Methodists see baptism as something God does, a sign of God's welcoming, prevenient grace. The understanding with baptism is that the rite activates the child's family and church community into a realization of their responsibility to nurture that child in his or her faith. Ideally, the child grows in such nurture until such time as he or she is able to make a commitment to Christ him or herself (a ceremony called Confirmation).

Crucially, however, baptism does not brainwash the child, nor does it bind people magically to a Christian fate. It is entirely possible, for instance, that a baptized infant will grow up not to be a Methodist or not to be a Christian.

Nevertheless, the baptism is indelible. God's loving invitation remains as open as the communion table, as intimate as water. I have spoken of other faith traditions within Christianity that see the primary attributes of God as Sovereignty or Righteousness. I'm hesitant to select a single divine attribute that all Methodists embrace as primary, but grace seems close.

But grace for Methodists isn't a passive forgiveness or forbearance, nor is it restricted to the singular acts of Christ's incarnation and atonement. Grace is constant and lifelong, not concentrated into one or two high moments. Grace is prevenient--pre-existing our awareness and laying the foundation for our encounter with it. Grace is sovereign, overcoming barriers that defeat mortal emotions and commitments.

And grace is indelible. Its mark cannot be removed. Its invitation cannot be rescinded by any except God, and I am unaware of any Methodist doctrine that suggests that God is ever inclined to do so. Reprobation--the permanent loss of grace--is simply not on the radar screen for Methodists.

This insight has formed the basis for many efforts by LGBT people in the United Methodist Church to achieve equality with heterosexual members. We Were Baptized, Too by James Preston and Marylin Bennett Alexander is the go-to example here. The 2004 General Conference featured a variety of actions by pro-inclusion members and organizations inspired by the idea of being "Watermarked," baptized and thus welcomed by God.

I regret to say the argument has not succeeded. The Methodist Church remains one of many denominations struggling mightily over the issue of inclusion for people who are LGBT. As a gay man, I may not be ordained. I may not be married to my partner by a Methodist minister or within a Methodist church. And, most disturbingly for me, I can be denied membership in any local congregation on the basis of my status as a "self-avowed, practicing homosexual." Somehow my baptism is not enough. I can be excluded from the community Methodist even though the baptism suggests that I have been included from the Body of Christ.

That confusion drives the question I posed yesterday about the degree to which the Church (as opposed to a local congregation) is a voluntary organization in L. Gresham Machen's sense. That is, must the Church, like any distinctive community, practice a heightened degree of intolerance, selecting who's in and who's out carefully so as to maintain its coherence? At first glance the answer appears to be "of course!" No one is forced into church membership or Christianity.

But I wonder, then, about the indelible (and unasked-for) grace that God bestows in baptism (and, though this may depart from Methodist orthodoxy, I would argue the grace comes in more ways than that). If God issues the invitation and welcomes the infant, and if God's invitation is constant, prevenient, sovereign, and indelible--can the community of Those God Welcomes be considered voluntary?

More tomorrow,

JF