Baptisms


“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Matthew xxiix.19″

If you are interested in holding a baptism at Saint Thomas Church fill out the Baptismal Application form below and a priest will be in touch with you shortly.

What is Holy Baptism?

Baptism is the sacrament of new birth, a real participation in the death of Christ and in his resurrection by which he defeated death and sin for us. Following Jesus’ command to his apostles, we baptize children and adults with water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, we’re plunged into the primordial waters of creation and made new; we’re cleansed of sin and buoyed up to safe harbor like the ark of Noah; we’re drawn from bondage to sin and death to new life in God as our ancestors in faith were drawn from bondage in Egypt to liberation through the Red Sea; we find ourselves with Christ in the river Jordan and hear anew the word of the Father as if proclaimed of us, “This is my child!”; we are led by and with Christ to the Cross, through the gate of death, and dying to sin, dying even to death, we are raised with Christ and receive new life. Baptism is a kind of initiation into the church, though not in the sense of joining a club or cultural organization, but in the sense of being adopted into the household of God, united with Christ through the power of the Spirit, becoming part of his body, the church, and sharing his life with him. In baptism, Jesus Christ takes up residence in us and plants in us a seed of the fullness of his grace which we are meant to nurture. We become patterned by grace in the new creation of the church. Our sins are forgiven, we receive the righteousness of God as our own, and we’re empowered by grace to bear the fruit of righteousness, to follow Christ, and to do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in. A person is baptized once. The effect of the sacrament on the soul, the indwelling of grace is indelible and unrepeatable: even though we may stray from the grace given in baptism (see Confession), the seed of grace remains in us to be nurtured once again.