What do you say to a bunch of hormone-pumped teens if you've got 45 minutes to "introduce" the doctrine of baptism to them? Here's an option I used this morning:

Baptism is when Jesus tells you to jump on to his Harley-Davidson of grace and you and Him take a helluva ride down to death and emerge on the other side of a new life, with you newly created. Down! Then up again! You got to want to hold on (faith, believing), but it's all His show (grace, redemption, etc.)

With infants, it's still okay to be baptised. Because Jesus holds on to the child, just like a daddy clings on to his newborn son.

Baptism is more than a symbol, more than a ritual, more than a "public announcement". Like new creation itself, it's an act of God. God stamps His mark of approval and love on the newly adopted children of His. The mainline church calls this a sacrament.

And baptism also shows the practicality of God. The baptism physical checklist is none too complex: Water. Just water. Trans-geographical. Cross-culture. No chicken blood, no olive oil, no rice, no creme de la mushroom.  You kinda get the idea it was being kept simple, eh? (And while immersion may facilitate the full death-then-emergence effect, under extreme conditions, maybe even saliva will suffice!).

Life via death. Deliverance through drowning. Breaking forth from the new womb by way of the tomb. A joyful declaration that God shall make all things new, as He has you. A bold "opening statement" on the divine agenda of universe repair, in which you play a part.

Is baptism important? Hell, yeah.