Just finished reading Dev Menon‘s “Stirring Stale Waters: How Martin Luther Helps Us Find Joy In Our Baptism”.
I dare say this is the best treatment of baptism I have ever come across (well, I haven’t come across that many).
It is accessible: at only 80 short pages, I finished it in less than an hour.
It is pastoral: I finished it feeling like having gone through baptism was one of the best things that happened to me. He addresses various typical attitudes to baptism: (i) those who feel they are never good enough for it; (ii) those who were confident of their faith, fell away, and now wants a restart; (iii) those who think baptism is unnecessary; (iv) those who question child baptism; and (v) those of us who sit through baptism services feeling like it’s completely irrelevant to us.
It is theological: Dev draws from the wells of the Reformation dude, Martin Luther (incidentally, it’s the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation next year) but simplifies it for us.
I shamelessly plug for him. Read this book. You will cherish your baptism. You will want to be baptised. You will rejoice at every baptism service. Because you will know the promise of God that you are His beloved.
It only costs S$10. Get a copy from him at dev@zionbishan.org.sg.