In the early church, three Sundays were reserved for the baptism of new Christians. Except in an emergency, these candidates for initiation into the church were baptized on one of these three days. The Easter vigil was the primary occasion, with its drama of darkness and new light, death, and new life. As our Lord made his Passover from death to new life, so the candidates were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. Pentecost Sunday was the second of these baptismal days for the early church. The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost and is given by God’s grace in Baptism. It is an obvious Sunday for the making of new Christians. This Sunday, the festival of the Baptism of Our Lord, is the third of those days. Because Jesus came to the Jordan and was baptized by John, this Sunday is t…