[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 30/Jun/2024]
I’ve been reading THE EARLY CHRISTIANS by Eberhard Arnold, one of the founders of Christian Communities International (known also as the Bruderhof, one of whose communes is in Robertsbridge on the way to Hastings).
The first followers of Jesus had a totally different concept of baptism than I’ve ever known. “Through immersion, the believers buried all their ties and involvement of their former lives. Plunged into the water as symbol of the blood of the crucified Christ, the believers accepted as their own the victory of the cross and its power to sever all demonic powers … such total change was only possible by faith in the power of the living Spirit.”
For them baptism was much more than an event – it was a birth into a radical, transformed new life. It cost them everything. It was no longer they who lived, but Christ who now lived His life in and through them. (Galatians 2:20)
Is that our – my – testimony? I want it to be, but I’m not sure I want to pay the price!
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Last week’s reflection: Where There is Love, The Mountains Melt Away by Chris Ginter
Contributed by Dennis Ginter; © Dennis Ginter