One of my aims at the beginning of my sabbatical was to experience different forms of Sunday worship. With that in mind I have visited a number of different churches over the period. Worship styles have ranged from high Anglican "bells and smells" type to what could be called "wild and wacky" charismatic style worship. Although some of the worship styles I encountered were not the type I would choose as my weekly worship diet, I have to say that in all the different styles I encountered God's presence. God is certainly not confined to churches with particular worship styles. More important, I think, is the attitude of the worshipper. When our hearts are open, and our desire is to give our best to God, he responds.
Yesterday Sue and I attended Holy Trinity, which is an Anglican church in the centre of Leicester. The church holds some special memories for us because our son Chris married his wife, Megan, there. Having said that, we had never previously attended a Sunday service at the church. It so happened that during yesterday's morning service five adults were baptised by "full immersion". A baptismal pool had been set up at the front of church. I always find that this form of baptism (where the person being baptised goes right under the water) is a powerful symbol of how we die to the old way of life and rise to new life in Christ Jesus.
Each of the five people being baptised were invited to share something of their story, relating how they met with God and came to the point of being baptised. I found their testimonies both tremendously encouraging and extremely inspiring. We live in an age of social media, so I thought that I'd Facebook my immediate response. This is what I wrote:
Baptism testimonies: not religion but relationship; transformed lives; excitement; amazing God-encounters; every story different, but each discovered the life-changing love of Jesus. Wow!
It was wonderful to hear how the lives of five very different people, from very different backgrounds, had been impacted by the touch of God. One spoke of having been through a time of terrible depression, another of a period when he was hooked onto drugs and alcohol. A third spoke of how he was brought up in a Christian family but his view of Christianity was all about rules and regulations, until he discovered that the heart of Christianity is not religion but a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.
The baptisms were a public statement by the five people of the transforming love of Jesus which they had experienced. It was an important step on their faith journey. I am so pleased that I was there to witness their baptisms and I pray for God's blessing to be with them into the future. It was a wonderful reminder of how God is at work in so many different ways in people's lives, and how he treats each person as a unique individual. Meeting with Jesus is truly life-changing!
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