Lesson from baptismal waters
Iremember my baptism well. It was in Largo, Florida at the First Bap tist Church. The pool was made of plaster, the organist softly played, “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” and the water was slightly warm. Others were baptized with me, and the whole event went off without a hitch.
However, I’ve been part of many baptisms that did not go so well. My first baptism as a pastor was for a man who was in his late forties, but who failed to tell me he was aquaphobic. He stood before me, acknowledged his faith in Christ, and as I started to place him under the water, he fought to stay above water. He grabbed the glass on one side of the pool and took hold of me with his other hand to keep his head from going under. I did what any thoughtful pastor would have done, I kicked his feet out from under him and we both went under the water. We both came up, with him sputtering and gasping, but he was baptized!
I remember one baptism event where we had multiple candidates, one being one of our senior adult ladies, who learned from me that the water did not heat properly. It was frigid cold. I asked if any of them wanted to wait until the heater was fixed, but they all agreed to continue. As I baptized each one, there was a gasp to the abruptness of the cold water, but my senior lady reacted differently. She noted the coldness, but it wasn’t until I placed her under that the full reality of the cold water hit her. As she went under, she gasped with an open mouth just as I placed her under, and she swallowed a lot of water.
A pastor from a different denomination borrowed our pool once but was aquaphobic himself. He asked if I would stand in the water with him to give him support. In being too cautious, he stooped just enough for the hotter than normal water to flood his wader to the top, making him most uncomfortable. I had to pull him out of the water and tilt him down so the water would run out before he cooked in the wader!
Jesus told us He preferred us to be either hot or cold in our spiritual life. However, when it comes to baptisms-I’ll take my water slightly warm please.
