What the hall of fame and the church have in common

Recently it was reported that no one was inducted into the baseball hall of fame for this year. This is the second time it has happened that no one received the required number of votes to enter Cooperstown, 

There is an ongoing debate in baseball about steroids. How can you put someone into the hall of fame who was a cheater and doped?

There are some who want to keep Cooperstown a pure hall of fame in which only the "true" greats of the game are honored. Others want Cooperstown to be a hall of history which documents all the aspects (great and not so great) of baseball.

So it is with the church. Some people desire the church to be a place where we only talk about the goodness of God and the greatness of creation and the happy things in life. But others desire church to be a place where we talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.

So a question that rolls around in my mind is Church more of a hall of fame or a hall of history?

Recently with the Fort Worth Dish Out...

For those of you new to this little blog you may not know about a side project that I was involved in for a bit called Fort Worth Dish Out. While not involved as I once was, I still believe in this ministry/project and occasionally share on this site about the Dish Out. So here are some of the latest happenings:

Fort Worth Dish Out was covered by TCU magazine.

Fort Worth Dish Out is connected to the Sunday Soup Network, of which Detroit Soup was featured on the Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Finally, if you are interested in attending the next Fort Worth Dish Out, you can see the recent announcement here

Shawshank Redemption, Lion King, O' Brother

Today is the Sunday the Church recognizes the baptism of Jesus and in worship we will be talking about dominate understandings of baptism and why it is an important sacrament in the Christian life. 

The question for you is which (if any) understanding do you have when it comes to baptism.

Are you a "Shawshank Redemption" person who understands baptism as a rebirth into a new life. Discarding the past and being 'born again' into a new life. 

Or are you more of a "O Brother Where Art Thou" sort of person. In which baptism is a washing away of your sins and you are forgiven for all transgressions.

Or perhaps you are persuaded more of the "Lion King" understanding in which baptism is a rite of a person being initiated into the community of faith by receiving a new name.

These are just three basic understandings, but perhaps you have another? Or some sort of hybrid of sorts? I would love to hear what your thoughts on baptism would be.