I was adopted as a child, and although I was too young at the time to know what was happening, I took on a new name and a new identity and, legally, I was adopted and became a fully-fledged member of a new family. In a sense that is what happens at baptism: in the ceremonial act of baptism with the blessings and prayers and promises, the candidate takes on a new identity; they become a member of the universal church and they formally join the Christian family.

R. Ian Seymour