The Ritual
1. a) Baptism is the celebration of the ritual, common to all Christian churches, that establishes reception into the Church as a religious community. Thus it is a rite of initiation. Water, and the Trinitarian formula, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” are the twin essential elements of this ritual. At baptism, candidates are immersed, either totally or partially, in water, or water flows over them, or they are sprinkled with water. Luther derives the word T…