Gordon Lathrop, Holy Things, V

In Chapter 3 Lathrop introduces a new sort of juxtaposition: thanksgiving and lament. (I use "sort" deliberately. This juxtaposition does not work differently than the ones before, but it is a juxtaposition, not of acts or times, but of emotions.) Thanksgiving without lament is the proverbial ostrich: it pretends not to see anything that does not conform to its outlook. Lament without thanksgiving is despair: it cannot offer or even expect solutions to the situations which cause the problems.

Another juxtaposition Lathrop introduces here is related to entering the Christian community: teaching and washing. Typically, for most subjects, and currently for adults, the pattern is teaching, followed by a bath that supersedes any teaching. In some cases (such as teaching about the bath itself), though, the historical practice is reversed: the teaching follows the bath. This pattern is still used for infant baptism (and in some other cases where either the baptizand is not yet capable of receiving instruction, or the baptism is urgent and cannot be delayed).