Why it's a good choice: This wonderful text is ideally suited for a baptism, with its focus on our hope on God and all the wonders that he offers us. The words of this hymn were written around ...

Baptism was not a new idea. There is evidence that a monastic group called the Essenes used baptism at their monastery at Qumran as a type of ritual cleansing. Qumran was in the Jordan wilderness ...