Was I Ever Really Baptized?

My sister called me the other day, asking me if I knew whether or not she was baptized.  I told her I didn't know for sure, but I thought I was, so I believed she had to be as well. 

I remembered seeing a Certificate of Baptism somewhere in the mass of stuff that I had preserved from my parent's scrapbooks.  I just couldn't remember where.  Being semi-retired, I had a little more time to scrounge, and I came up with a a photo album that my mother had kept to chronicle my growing up (it fades out pretty quickly, about the time that Carol was born - my short reign as favored child was now done).  Inside that photo album was a Certificate of Baptism from Lawrence Avenue Methodist Church.  I was greatly relieved!  I was not a heathen!

Or was I?  There were two glaring problems with the certificate.  First my date of birth is wrong.  It says my date of birth was January 9th, 1955.  It's not.  It's June 9th, 1955.  Or was it?  Could I be even older than I thought I was?  Could I have been drawing Social Security even sooner?  In case of a tie, I thought, check the birth certificate.  Whew!  I'm the age I thought I was.

Secondly, there is no date on it as to when the Baptism actually occurred.  When did it happen?  I had no idea.  Does it count if you don't know?  Maybe it's just something they drew up in anticipation of the event. 

Wrong dates.  No dates.  Did that make me a quasi-heathen?

Meanwhile, my sister went through her own stuff and found her own Certificate of Baptism.  And hers even had accurate dates! 

Not only that, but she found my Dad's Certificate of Baptism as well!  Unlike Carol and me, his was not an infant's baptism.  The date was October 2, 1955. So, that raised the distinct possibility that his baptism was done when mine was!  I had my likely baptism date. That would mean my baptism occurred when I was only four moths old!   I think they took a look at me and decided not to take any chances.  Even my Dad thought, I better get right with God if I'm going to handle this one.

I'm not going to get in to an argument about the validity of infant baptisms.  The reality is that many denominations that don't have infant baptisms have dedications, and then later a baptism.  Other churches have infant (and adult) baptisms,  followed up later by confirmations.  Semantically, between the two events, I think they serve the same general purpose.  The church commits to supporting you, and then later you confirm that commitment.  There's room for both approaches.  There's so much else dividing us, we shouldn't let this be something that contributes to that, not in any hostile or angry way.

I am grateful that Grace Episcopal has opened the Eucharist table to all baptized Christians, including ones with shady Certificates of Baptism like mine.  And for those worried about it, I was confirmed as a youth at the Bridgeport Community Church, and then as an adult at Grace Episcopal.  So I'm covered. 

I can assure you, this picture from the scrapbook does not indicate that it was a baptism with a river dunking.  The United Methodists did not do that, not even in 1955.  The picture was labeled at two weeks old.  Two weeks?  If that's true, I was the biggest darn two week old you ever saw!

And that diaper!  My golly gee whiz, that looks full!  What can I say?  It was in era before Little Swimmers.

Thanks, Carol, for inspiring me to check.  It confirms what I already knew.  I am, even with all my flaws and imperfections, in the community of Christ.  Peace be with you!