If one stayed in Scouts long enough, and fulfilled certain requirements, which I can’t remember anymore, he became eligible for a subset of Scouting called The Order of the Arrow. I remember almost nothing about it other than the initiation ceremony and one other event that happened afterward.
Everyone at summer camp that was potentially eligible sits around a camp fire at night waiting to see if his name is called. If so, you’re snatched up off the ground, whacked three times on the shoulders, and sent off into the woods to spend the night by yourself.
I have this vague memory of it being a long, cold night—cold because our Scout camp was in the foothills of the Ozarks. And I know there were snakes—copperheads and rattlesnakes, our Scout Master was bitten by a copperhead a summer or two before this.
And then I had the privilege of going back to camp sometime in the fall for a weekend they called Ordeal. Other than the first night dinner, the rest of the weekend was spent without talking, a lot of hard work, deep cleaning the camp, and no other provided food (we were welcome to forage for all we wanted in the woods).
Other than those first two initiation rites and a cool patch for my uniform, I don’t remember much else. I’m sure there was a lot more than was just lost on a teenage boy. In some form or fashion, I’m sure I’m a better person for it all. The point? People like these rites of passage.
Most cultures mark rites of passage and special events with ceremonies and symbols or monuments and memorials. We see this throughout the Bible as well. God himself gave Abraham the sign of circumcision to remind him and all his descendants of God’s promise. When Jacob was fleeing from Esau, he met God on the way and set up a pillar to commemorate the event. When the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, they took twelve stones from the river and placed them on the bank as a sign of what God had done.
From Passover to Purim, the nation of Israel marked special events of God’s deliverance: remembering and reenacting those truths. And we do that today as well. A little over a month ago, Garrett and Rebekah exchanged rings, said vows, even exchanged a bite of cake—all cultural signs of a reality that was true whether or not they exchanged rings or bites of cake. But that ceremony and those signs were visible representations of an invisible reality: the two shall become one flesh.
The church is no different. In the protestant tradition, we believe that God has given—commanded—two such signs: baptism and the Lord’s Supper or communion. Both commands are given in the gospels. From Matthew 28:18–20, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
And from Luke 22:19, “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
And here in Acts 2, we see Peter being obedient to that command from Matthew, or we might say he’s calling the crowd to be obedient.
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