The Prayer Of The Church Essays

One of the class lectures provided a list of Wesley’s claims about baptism that is based on one’s “entrance into covenant with God, admission into the church,” that we become “children of God,” and “made heirs of the kingdom.” Where there is a question if one’s act of entering into the Church to be called baptism, it is also important to be reminded of the difference between “dedication” and a “sacrament” such a baptism. The Commission on Worship postulates that “in a dedication we make a gift of life to God for God to accept, while in a sacrament, God offers the gift of God’s unfailing grace for us to accept.” When one becomes part of something new, there is an experience attached to it. Theologically speaking, that experience is known as “conversion.” This means to convey that one leaves behind one’s old being, the old falsehood, weary and loathsome life. It is an experience in which we “turn away from sin and turn instead to God.” This of course is based on accepting that God has the authority to forgive us our sins and provides us with grace to “be born again.” During one of the class lectures, Dr.Anderson provided us with the definition of baptism by Vatican II. This definition projected the concept of baptism as a sacrament that said “Baptism is the sacrament of that faith, by which, enlightenment by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we respond to the gospel of Christ.” This supports the idea that “in it we have a vision of a world recreated and humanity transformed…