This past Sunday 3 of us went
with our contact & his wife to a Pentecostal Church’s baptism. Apparently a lot of churches were
baptizing all over Lutsk this Sunday morning! The church doesn’t let just anyone get baptized. Rather they
want to make sure that the people understand what they are doing.
It was super sweet to watch The Body grow this morning. There were 24 people getting baptized in the river where
I was at. They were all dressed in white because it represents their
forgiveness of sins…though its not very modesty from a USA point of view. It was a time of rejoicing…regardless of the fact that we really didn’t know what
they were saying. (The language barrier just makes me laugh now.) Everytime
people would come up out of the water, I’d want to clap and shout like we do in
America….but clearly I would have been looked at like a freak. They just sing a
short refrain of praise after people come out. There were teenagers &
grandparents getting baptized which is beautiful because it shows that its
never too late to give your WHOLE being over to be controlled by your Maker,
Jesus!
The service was 3 hours long…a
bit longer than in America. (All standing up mind you.) However they didn’t
seemed phased by it because the joy of new
birth overshadowed all. Just less than 25
years ago, Christians weren’t allowed to be baptized here. They would have to
sneak around at night to baptize. One of the three pastors’ sermons was about
such. That really hit me. In these
peoples’ lifetimes, they really would have to run around at night to be a
Christian. They couldn’t stand there, like we were today, beside the river with
speakers set up and flowers all around. They were trapped in darkness &
oppression, yet they sought to love the Lord. And I think at that moment my heart grew a
little bit wider…beyond the boundary lines of America and The Church in
America. I looked around and realized that
I’m really going to see these people in Heaven. I’m really going to live forever with these people…that I can’t
communicate with today. It was
heartwarming. These people weren’t foreigners to me. These people weren’t just
Ukrainian. These people weren’t just talking in a different language and
wearing “interesting� clothes. They were
just like me on the inside. They loved
Jesus and sought to worship Him. And that just made me want to hug
everyone….which clearly I did not do. I might not have been able to understand
their prayers to God, but I just closed my eyes and engaged my spirit with
God…knowing that beyond the language, we were together before the throne. It was a very sweet moment.
This lady was baptized IN her wheelchair.
This older lady was just toooooooo cute, getting baptized!
These young ladies were precious!!!
