The Christian Faith
This section of the website provides more extended teaching on larger content areas, such as the Creed and the Sacraments. It begins with Introduction·to the Christian Faith. More content will be added in due course.
The section entitled Short Talks comprises stand-alone talks and articles on different aspects of the Christian Faith, including the teaching of Jesus, the seasons of the Church’s Year and Feasts and Festivals.·
Baptism: The Service
In the Early Church
Baptism is the first Sacrament because a person who is not baptised – christened – is not a Christian. In the Early Church, Baptism was administered twice a year: at Easter, and then again at Pentecost for any candidates who had missed the Easter Baptism. Most of them would be adults. They were instructed in the Christian Faith during the six weeks of Lent. Indeed, that is how the season of Lent began, as a preparation for Baptism.
Baptism: The New Birth
The human family
When you have a new teacher at school there is one thing about you which he or she will not know, but very soon has to find out and remember. And that is your name. Each of us has a name. If we did not, everything would be one big muddle. If we wrote a letter we could not sign it, and if we posted it we could not address it to anyone. So a name is a word given to a person to distinguish him or her from other people.
Baptism: Member of Christ
The earthly life of Jesus
Jesus spent the whole of his earthly life in Palestine, a country about the size of Wales tucked away in a corner of the vast Roman Empire. The result was that, during his lifetime of 33 years, he was unknown to the world outside Palestine. People there never came into touch with him, few had even heard of him. Life went on just the same and people went on just the same. This, of course, was because Jesus could not be in two places at once. If he was in Galilee, he could not be in Greece or Italy or Spain.