In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

It's 12:00pm. The morning services have just sung their last songs and people begin mingling from all of the services: the 2nd hour English service, the 2nd hour Cantonese service, probably the Mandarin service, and the Sunday school classes. I locate my parents and move towards them, stopping to chat with a former student from my first year of teaching who has spent the last couple years navigating the treacherous waters of college classes and lived to tell about it--she still has her quick laugh and wry sense of humor at herself. When she leaves I look around the auditorium, loving the feel of this particular celebration.

The number of Cantonese in this service is greater than normal. I don't know very many of them. The number of people I know, however, is pretty large. The son of someone I know is part of the celebration, too. The excitement is high. People are milling about and chatting as Jay sits at the piano, playing background music of hymns and choruses. Some people have cameras out, some carry bouquets of flowers for those who are part of today's baptismal service. On the stage in front of the closed curtain, three people stand with various types of cameras at the ready. They're the official photographers, I think. The pictures will make it onto a power point presentation at some point, I'm sure. Maybe they'll be posted on the web.

The curtain opens and Pastor Johnny Yue, the Cantonese senior pastor stands in the water ready and waiting. He reminds us of why we are here: we are here to watch as 6 seniors--one a recent high school graduate (laughter ripples through the crowd) and 5 senior citizens ages 76-83--obey Christ by being baptized.

It's not easy for the Chinese believers to do this, I realize. When most of your family members are Buddhist or worship their ancestors (or both), you think far longer and harder about baptism before you "take the plunge". While their families may allow their Christian testimony to go unchallenged at home as long as they still participate in family activities, while their parents may allow them to go to church, the public act of baptism can cause a great stir in the unbelieving family circles. Anything public is seen as a reflection of the family, and public baptism could be construed as public humiliation by many family members. Therefore, the Chinese believers will often wait for years before making such a public profession of their choice to follow Christ.

On the other hand, the senior citizens being baptized have probably been prayed for by their believing relatives for many many years. Their families are present, full of joy and wonder at the transforming power of Christ that extends even to those who are too old to be taught new tricks.

Each time the curtain opens, all talk stops as we watch, almost breathless with the wonder of the scene, another believer being baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The elderly have a harder time figuring out what to do--Pastor Johnny has to tell them step by step what he is going to do and what he needs them to do. They're so cute! Their baptisms are not exactly smooth: they end up nearly sitting down first and then being lowered back into the water, they come up clinging to Pastor Johnny, and each waves at the crowd with a big cheery smile as the curtain closes. Everyone claps! Applause fills the room, sometimes cheers and cat-calls. And flash-bulbs go off all over the room.

I don't understand half of what is being said because Pastor Johnny is speaking primarily Cantonese. But I do understand that they are following Christ in something very serious and very exciting, something I did many years ago myself. And I cheer and clap and feel a sensation akin to what the angels in heaven must have felt when those souls first accepted the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. There's something comforting about those words: "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, I baptize you now." We all belong to the same family, even though we have come from different parts of the world and speak different languages. We belong and we are loved. There's always room for more.