{"id":106,"date":"2014-04-17T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.risen.org.uk\/?p=106"},"modified":"2014-04-16T18:14:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T18:14:54","slug":"blog-april-17th-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"Blog April 17th \u201cBaptism\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Baptism\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.risen.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/03-In-Times-Of-Trouble.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

“In Times of Trouble” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0with John Hodgkinson on guitar – from Mustard Seed Songs CD “I Look Up To The Heavens”<\/p>\n

Many years previously I had been invited by a member of my tutor group- Caroline Berridge I am pretty sure it was- to attend her baptism by full immersion at Holy Rood Church. As she came out of the tank dripping wet in what appeared to be her pyjamas I thought to myself \u201cShe is very brave -there is no way you\u2019d catch me doing anything like that – I would be much too embarrassed\u201d\u00a0 Well as I explained in my \u00a0Blog of April 13th<\/sup> I became a Christian on Feb 22nd<\/sup> 1997 and not long after I read in the church notice sheet that there was an opportunity for me to be baptised by full immersion.\u00a0 After a couple of quick enquires I discovered that you can\u2019t be baptised twice. I thought \u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s a relief I have escaped\u201d – you see I had already been baptised (Christened) as a baby.\u00a0 The trouble was shortly afterwards I found out that you can still re- affirm your infant baptism vows.<\/p>\n

So I got this feeling inside me that made me think that this was something I should do even if I didn\u2019t fancy it.\u00a0 I thought that as there is safety in numbers I would get others from my Alpha group to be baptised with me- the trouble was none of them wanted to.\u00a0 So I came up with what I thought was a brilliant plan; I would go to the Holy Land and get baptised in the River Jordan just like Jesus. \u00a0With this great plan I went to my mentor, Mr Mill\u2019s dad Mr Milliken expecting him to be overjoyed with my idea. Oh no he was not overjoyed at all – Mr Milliken made it quite clear that I had to make a public testimony of my faith to my friends and family and in my local church. \u00a0My mind flashed back to Caroline Berridge\u2019s dunking – this was going to be so embarrassing but I could see no way out. So I went to see the Vicar, Michael Christian- Edwards to tell him that I wished to reaffirm my baptism vows and that I was prepared (prepared but not happy) to give a testimony.<\/p>\n

Holy Rood church was packed- I felt the water in the specially brought in tank – it felt less than tepid.\u00a0 I received encouragement from Mr Mill and his dad, who was going to be my special helper, ready with a towel for me when I emerged; giving what I was sure would be the appearance of a drowned rat.<\/p>\n

I remember one of the Christian songs we sang was one written by Brian Doerksen \u201cMore than Oxygen\u201d and this became significant a little later re the song writing<\/p>\n

Anyway before being \u201cdunked\u201d I had to give a testimony – I thought the best thing would be to tell how my fear of death had been taken away (or pretty much taken away) after I had become a Christian. \u00a0Michael Christian- Edwards had pointed out to me that The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus has freed all those who were held in slavery by the power of death- so I quoted this. I also talked about how one day I had gone on my own into Holy Rood after dark and a section of the beautiful stained glass window at the far end was illuminated. The illuminated part was that of Jesus portrayed as the Good Shepherd.\u00a0 I remember staring at this image for some time and feeling really comforted. When I asked how the window had been illuminated no one really had an answer – a timing light was supposed to come on but that was to light the window to the outside – not inside.\u00a0 There may well be a logical explanation but I prefer to believe it was a blessing from God to reassure me that He would always look after me in the same way as a Shepherd looks after his sheep- even when I got lost or went astray.<\/p>\n

After I gave my testimony (which was quite long) someone shouted out \u201cHallelujah\u201d I remember feeling really chuffed about this – I know I probably should not have felt proud but I did.<\/p>\n

So on May 18th<\/sup> 1997 into the \u201ctub\u201d I went – I was taken backwards into the water by Michael Christian -Edwards. \u00a0\u00a0In the end I wasn\u2019t in the least bit embarrassed \u00a0coming out drenched -in fact \u00a0I was exhilarated – Mr Milliken was there with a towel and these words for me \u201cSo do not fear for I am with you be not dismayed for you are my God I will comfort you and help you I will uphold you with my righteous hand\u201d I later found this to be from the Book of Isaiah Chapter \u00a042:11 These words have remained especially dear to me and when my wife Caroline was baptised in the sea in September 2011 \u00a0I\u00a0 said the same \u00a0words over her.\u00a0 They also form part of this week\u2019s featured song \u201cIn Times of Trouble\u201d Somehow, and I cannot remember the story exactly, this song was adopted by the son of the Chief of The Karen tribe of Burma – (Myanmar) . These people have long been persecuted.\u00a0 It also features on the Release International website www.releaseinternational.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Other people said prayers out loud for me and I particularly remember Paul Knight, who \u00a0had first invited me to the Alpha course (see blog April 3rd<\/sup>) pray that I would become a \u201cFisher of men\u201d\u00a0 I felt humbled and joyful – it was a wonderful, unforgettable experience.<\/p>\n

Not long after \u00a0I heard about a worship seminar being presented by Brian Doerksen – the writer of \u201cMore than Oxygen\u201d played at the baptism- \u00a0next week I will tell you how that influenced me to start writing Christian songs myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  “In Times of Trouble” featuring Lucy Stimpson- Maynard \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0with John Hodgkinson on guitar – from Mustard Seed Songs CD “I Look Up To The Heavens” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-shearsmiths-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risen.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}