You can't earn salvation, but urns can save the day when you have a very leaky baptistry to contend with!
I arrived at D+2 this morning to discover much frenetic filling of the baptistry going on, saucepans of water being heated on the cooker in a desperate effort to get warm-enough, deep-enough water in time for their service, as it leaks so much that overnight it had emptied... It succeeded, but the thought of doing the same between lunch and our service really did not appeal, so I rang someone from church to see if they could locate and deliver our urn - which they did, along with one from our local Methodists! Ten gallons of almost boiling water, along with the three baptistry heaters, meant we had water at a pleasant temperature and a good depth, so all was well.
It was a great service, with over 50 people in attendance, despite a fair few of our folk being absent for one reason or another (I guess broken hips are a good excuse...) including family and friends, a few people's spouses who came out for this special event, and around a dozen or so from D+2 who knew our candidate because she'd attended their Alpha course (though this was not a factor that appeared in her testimony).
The new hymn by Martin Leckebucsh went really well and was enjoyed by those who commented on it. I discovered even more folk who'd known him at school, as the husband of D+2's minister was in the year above him at shcool... Hopefully the hymn will get itself published soon so that other congregations can have a great Baptismal hymn to sing.
From there it was off to take an evening service for a congregation of eight at a church to which everyone drives some distance - which made preaching on Hebrews 10 and not giving up meeting seem all the more poignant. Given that five minutes after the service ended the door had been locked and everyone had gone home I wondered how much fellowship these folk actually share. Still, they are faithful and obviously value meeting together - even if they sang 'Forth in Thy Name, O Lord I Go' to the dirge that is Old Hundredth because they didn't know the set tune.
And now, finally, I can sit down and enjoy a cup of tea, and reflect on a day well spent.
Comments
Sounds like you have a great time if a little on the fraught side early on. I hope and pray that you have many more. But may be a little less running around.
I have just tried Forth in thy name to Old hundreth and it think it works - but then i am a sucker for that tune!
Peace
Hi Richard, yes the tune and hymn do work together, and Old Hundredth at a reasonable speed is fine, but at dirge speed always succeeds in demoralising me!
At least should we have more baptisms we'll know to start boiling urns full of water when we begin the filling process... Or we could get a portable and use it in a building with an industrial size hot water tank/combi-boiler...
Chuckle!
Definitely another thing they didn't cover at training college.
We were recently told by a surveyor to ensure that water soaking away from our baptistery didn't cause problems for the building's foundations. The thought of believer's baptism undermining Baptist foundations was one that had never previously occurred to me...
Glad the service went well - Newbold Verdon's Baptistery leaks too - throughout yesterday's service the Pastor kept giving us a running commentary on the Descending Water Level!!
Andy - college life has obviously changed - when Bob was a Student Pastor, one of his tasks was to help remove the Victorian Lead Lined Baptistery and replace it with a modern fibreglass one!
I feel this may throw new light on many previously unexplained features of 19th Century Baptist life and thought.
Does this fit into your study of historiography, Catriona, or is it pure toxicology?
Between that, gas mantles, lime lights, and a general lack of 'elf and safety' it is a wonder there were any Baptists left to enter C20! Obviously made of sterner stuff in those days.
I'm glad to hear that the baptismal service went well, pleased that you had a good response to the newly-written hymn - thanks for the encouragement as well as for the constructive criticism along the way! - and exceedingly curious who else you have met who knows me. Any clues, please?
As for baptistries ... I once belonged to a Methodist church which included a number of people who were baptist by conviction if not by denomination - we had one or two baptismal services (by immersion) using a very leaky home-made, wood-framed, free standing pool which did the floor no good at all. And at the same place there was a portable wooden font which was very rarely used except to bring the OHP up to the right height. After one morning service in which there had been an infant baptism the organist said to me, with a twinkle in his eye, "Somebody's put water in the overhead projector stand ...!"
Hi Martin, I like the font use/comment.
Clues as to the person who knows you - he was in the year above you at a school, phonetically shares your first name but the 'i' is changed to 'y' and his surname sounds like an abbreviation for William followed by one for an extra terrestrial. He tells me he wasn't a Christian in those days; he is very tall and works in computing these days. So tyg.