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I
woke rather early Saturday, March 31, 2007, but my roommate
Rashel Pomoy was up and about already busy preparing
to go and be baptized. She was one of five who made
up this year’s batch of baptisants from the Sunset
service. She left ahead of me, obviously excited about
what was going to happen to her.
When
I got to DBC, it was quiet and tranquil like worship
Sunday when there are just the few early arrivals in
church. The baptism pool at the back of the sanctuary
stage was uncovered and ready for the morning’s
rites. Those who were to be baptized that day, aside
from Rashel, were Ate Hilda Naval, Genevieve
Estacaan, Maridel Exconde, Jason Enriquez, and Kuya
Louie Indolos (the lone baptisant from the English AM
service).
We
began at around 8:30AM. We had praise and worship through
the singing of hymns led by Kuya Butch Pang,
and a short exhortation from Pastor Bel Magalit. Pastor
Bel referred to different instances in the Bible where
believers were baptized. Just as in the case of the
baptisants on this Saturday, they believed in the name
of Jesus our Lord and had come to affirm Christ in their
lives.
Pastor
Bel posed one of his tricky questions to the small gathering
of baptisants and us witnesses. He pointed out that
baptism to Evangelical Christians is not essential to
salvation, but important as a declaration of it. He
then asked us if we thought that the people in the passages
he read were born again first before they were baptized,
or baptized first then born again. (Of course, the “right
answer” was…)
Each
Christian has a story to tell, and the March 31 baptisants
were called forth one by one to share their personal
testimonies. The sharing of testimonies makes baptism
more meaningful — the acknowledging of what the
Lord has done for us, the confessing of the changes
He has made in our lives and our persons. The testimonies
were brief, and some I had already heard in part. But
it was still refreshing to hear again of the right path
taken, the right choice made, and the transformation
observed from the instant of belief in Christ Jesus.
Pastor
Bel himself baptized each one of the six, with Kuya
Mon Rocha assisting him. This entailed their also wearing
a baptisant’s white cotton gown and wading in as
well into the water, staying till the last and sixth
baptisant got out at the other end of the pool. Six
times the baptisant’s Gospel-affirming question
was asked into the microphone held out over the waters,
like a sacred echo, and six times into the microphone
it was affirmed.
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