Baptismal Font
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Water is the liquid of life, the universal cleanser. When we are baptized, the claim our Sin would hold on us is washed away, and the mark of God is branded into our souls, even if we are only infants. Far though we stray from our Master's flock, He knows us by this mark, and by the names given to us when we receive it.
Rising from the water we receive the promise that we, too, shall rise to new life with God after we swoon in death. We do this in obedience to God in the person of Christ, who did so in obedience to God as Creator of All — obedience even unto death. That is to say, we are baptized into Christ's path, which leads through death to Resurrection.
Since we acknowledge only one Baptism, the various forms of baptism in Christ's name done by the various Christian denominations all equally serve to induct the one baptized into the one universal Christian Church, of which each denomination is a part. This first of the sacraments is thus the portal to life in the community of Christians, the Body of Christ on earth, which exists to hear, proclaim, and to do the Word of God for all people and all creatures.