Baptismo

A few weeks ago I went down to the Rio Grande Valley to look into possible mission trip projects.  While I was there I called on Pastor Roberto at Iglesia Fe y Poder to see how things were going there.  We had worked with Pastor Roberto and his church on our 2011 trip.  He graciously invited me to come to Wednesday evening services there and he asked me to help him baptize some new members.  All this was done through interpretors so I was not quite sure what to expect.

When I arrived Pastor Roberto was opening up the church building, opening the windows and turning on the fans.  People arrived close to on time and even early, which surprised me.  The congregation sang and Pastor Roberto taught on baptism - I could understand some of it.  Then it was time for baptism.

The small crowd was directed outside to a new and unfinished cinder block and tile baptistry built along the wall of the church.  Five young people started putting on robes.  The baptistry was waist high to me but only had about 18 inches of water in it.  They had never filled it before and they were not sure how long it took to fill.  It turns out it takes longer than we thought.  Pastor Roberto forged ahead with a shrug and a smile.  He slipped his shoes off and jumped into the baptisty in his dress pants and socks, then he invited me in.  I excused myself to change into some shorts and I came back about the time the young people were ready to get in.

With Pastor Roberto on one side and me on the other, we baptized the five new converts.  Fortunately for me, they all spoke English.  The small crowd gathered there sang a song as we started the baptism and as each new Christian came up out of the water, they sang another verse.

As I watched in a bit of confusion, wonder and joy.  I realized we all smile in the same language - everyone there was smiling during all this.  We all clap in the same language - they all clapped to beat of the song and then clapped for each candidate.  And then I realized we all get baptized in the same language (at least we Baptists do).   They all came out equally wet even if there was only 18 inches of water.  For a moment there, I felt a part of that church though we did not speak the same language.  We had all shared this "baptismo" experience together and now, in some greater spiritual way, we are all a part of the same family.

This Sunday, we will baptize at Northside.  I hope you will feel a sense of connection to a greater family and to those being baptized, but if you don't, I pray that you will ask someone who can tell you how it can be that way for you.  God wants you to be a part of his family.

For the journey...

Tim