Head-dibs

The Epiphany season in Russia includes “Jesus’ Baptism Day.” The English-Russia website is one of many that include a brief explanation of how the day is observed with the following paragraph (it is copied so frequently I can’t take the time to find the origin), plus a gallery of photos highlighting the icy conditions: “In Russia there are few traditions for a Jesus Baptism Day. This day is celebrated in 19th of January and the night before the main tradition is going bathing in some natural source of water. So at this day usually the local rivers and lakes are full of the people wishing to commit this ritual, not minding the temperature of the air and of the water, which is usually just a half degree up from the freezing point at this time of year. Also, many people in Russian believe that the water being picked up at Baptism Day has some sort of magic. It can be kept next 365 days without getting any smell or become rotten. So many collect the water at that night and keep it at hom...

Baptism is like a wedding ring: they both symbolize transactions. A wedding ring symbolizes marriage, just as baptism symbolizes salvation. A ring does not make you married, nor does baptism save you. And is a person doesn’t have a ring, you can almost assume that they are not married. In NT times, if a person was not baptized, you could almost assume that they were not believers. And so baptism is a symbol of salvation and should not be taken for granted. Ray Stedman tells how a pastor once related t0 him the occasion of preparing to baptize a young girl in a beach-front gathering. He told of how he wanted to make certain she understood what baptism meant. As he questioned and talked, he noticed that his hand cast a shadow on the sand. He said to the girl, "Do you see the shadow of my hand on the sand? That is not my hand, but the shadow of my hand. The hand is the real thing. When you came to Jesus, when you turned from your sin and believed in Jesus, that was the real...

We observed the ordinance of baptism at our church, Calvary Chapel Lexington, on Sunday, May 25. Over 40 people were baptized. Here are a couple of videos from the celebration, starting with our pastor, John Hoppe III teaching: This is our daughter, Jannai, being baptized:

Thanks, Derek. You've been Baptist all along.