Jesus came and
told his disciples, “I
have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the
commands I have given you. And be sure
of this: I am with you always, even to
the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)
I had the privilege of
baptizing our youngest, Carrie, in the mid-80’s. All her little friends from church were
“up-close-and- personal” for the event.
But it was the back-lit cross on the wall behind us that nearly claimed
the day.
A volunteer had made the
cross and attached a fluorescent light to its back side. Then our volunteer (sans electrical
contractor’s license) hung it in the baptistery…he hung it badly.
In order to make sure the
cross could be taken down easily for cleaning he had
put just a single screw at the top of the cross and drilled a hole in the wall
behind to dangle it on the wall (somewhat vertically-straight). And come-down-easily it could!
We baptized often in that
church; and almost every time I managed to brush against the cross,
either entering, leaving, or in the act of baptizing. The cross on a screw was like a pendulum on a
clock. Brush it to the left and it swung
easily, while the light made all kinds of neat shadows and light strobes on the
baptistery walls.
I always imagined that if
that cross plunged into the water and electrocuted me the Gainesville Sun’s
article headline would read,
Electrifying Baptism Held at Parker Road
Baptist Church;
Preacher Lit Up for Jesus
Now, if the lighted cross
wasn’t bad enough, asking the preacher to wear a lapel microphone with a wire
plugged into who knows how many millions of watts, volts and other unknown
disasters….well, that one grabbed center stage too.
In that tiny baptistery,
water displacement dynamics were strange.
The new Christian, Dennis, who came into the pool that day, was 6’3” and
weighed about 320; that was before you added-in the wet robe. But even a big guy like that had to have a push
from the preacher to get all the way under the water.
Pushing Dennis down was
easy; getting him, and the 60-ton wet robe he was wearing, back on his feet
were not! I had to swing way to the left
to get my leg underneath to support the new saint; while I swayed, the cross
swung. As I moved upward to lift the
brother, the cross released and swung true to its nature…back and forth, back
and forth! But the hole in the wall held
the cross; tragedy #1 averted!
The microphone wasn’t so
cooperative. As my new church member
reached upward to grab anything he could to help me lift him, he chose my
lapel. As his grasp began to strangle
me, I reached out for anything to keep me from joining him under the
water. Somehow the lapel microphone was
sprung loose from the clip holding it to my robe…it flew up in the air,
pirouetted and did an Olympic 7.8 entry into the water.
Collectively the
congregation gasped at an electric wire hitting the open water with a new
convert and a mortified, helpless parson.
You could have heard a pin drop for 10 miles. And the only thing I remember thinking at
that moment was Debbie Boone’s song chorusing through my head …and
you…you light up my life……
Postscript: Even if the wires
sizzled…it was low voltage…it simply would have added a little “zip” to our
step; no harm, no foul.
Incidents like that are
legion in ministry. A minister’s lesson learned is that we should
do whatever we can to make sure events go smoothly – not because we’re
professional, but because the grace of our Lord is bigger news than electrical mis-engineering.
For You, Today…
Did something go
wrong at your baptism?
Forget that – remember what went right;
Jesus was there…and he’s still with you.
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