Unless you were a member here before 1967, you probably don't know which of the church's 28 pastors I'm talking about when I tell you that he came here from England. Even when I tell you his name was the Rev. Joseph Phillips, the pastor in whose memory we sang the second hymn this morning, you probably still don't know who I'm talking about. Naming a person identifies to whom we are referring, but it only means something if we were personally acquainted with the person. A car in a showroom, a car heading straight toward me, a car needing constant repair, all have such isolated meanings that the name 'car' cannot be said to stand for any one thing. What I have said about pastors and cars also applies to baptism.
Baptism means many different things to many different people.
Almost all religions and churches have some form of baptism, but obviously not everyone interprets the meaning of baptism the same way. Today's Gospel Lesson is a good illustration of the confusion which has existed about baptism through the centuries. John the Baptist was more than a preacher. As his name implies, John invited people to be baptized as a symbol of repenting, or turning away from their sins. Obviously, this reminder was necessary because some people had forgotten, or not everybody agreed.