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I remember awaking that Thursday morning with a sense of dread and excitement. It was nearly the end of our time in India and the team we were visiting invited us to a baptism. The boy, who we will call Maninder for his safety, had come to faith recently but felt it was time to be baptized into Christ and cast aside his Hindu upbringing.
I left Kimber and the kids in the 3 bedroom flat we had been using and walked to our team leader's home. As I arrived, the atmosphere in the living room was palpable. Full of excitement and a little bit of fear, the group begins to pray for Maninder and this incredible step he is taking. Declaring Jesus as Lord is dangerous, and has become more so in the events of India's declaration of the nation being a Hindu nation, as America is a Christian nation. Hindu radicals have already burned three Christian churches down in the region. It has become unsafe and dangerous for Indians to accept Christ as Lord.
When we leave the flat and start our journey, I am informed that what we are doing is quite dangerous so we need to be careful. Four different vehicles carefully loaded with the right mix of foreigners and nationals are traveling different routes to the same destination, the mighty Ganges. En route we are told to act like tourists and take pictures of the Ganges like it is part of a guided tour. Along the bumpy, dusty, rickshaw-filled road, one of the team members informs me we are going to the exact spot in the Ganges where Maninder, just three months previously, had set fire to and floated his recently deceased, Hindu father. It was a difficult time for him and most of the team's first experience of a Hindu burial ceremony. The significance of this act started to make my heart beat a little faster and the atmosphere I felt earlier in the morning more understandable. Maninder isn't just going to proclaim Christ as Lord, but he is also declaring, in the exact spot where he buried his earthly father, that God is his new father as well.
As we arrive at the Ganges, I notice we are the last car there, and we park quite a distance from the rest of our group. The area around is eerily quiet for India and only the humming of boats on the great river can be heard. The wind is whirling around us and blowing sand everywhere. The Ganges is at its lowest, leaving its barren flood banks drivable but also exposing us. No vegetation is visible and it feels like a desert river. But before us lies the great Ganges beckoning us to come.
We walk quite a way to the river bank and do all we can to not draw attention to what is happening. Indians have a mentality to mob, and Kimber and I had been privy to it just a few weeks before when people decided to mob and destroy an entire hotel. I didn't want to experience that again. It was unsettling.
As I look around there are only a few people out and about along the shore which is a huge blessing as the river is usually so much busier, but today it is quiet and we get to share this moment together. We all gather around Maninder, and some others walk out into the water to start the baptism. I can only imagine what is running through Maninder's mind. Fear? Anxiety? Excitement? Grief? All of the above? As they wade out into the trashy, dirty brown water of the river, we on the shore look on with excitement. The dunk is quick and deliberate. There is no major fanfare. Some hugs and smiles but very little interaction.
We start walking back to the cars. While walking back I pause and look at the river. The beauty of what just happened is resounding in the heavens and yet it is still silent here. The power of Jesus' cleansing blood is floating down the river. I wish that I could just get a glimpse of the spiritual world right now. My body responds in goosebumps and all I can do is pray in excitement and thank the Lord. Maninder went into the river where he lost his father and declared before his family and friends that Christ is his and all that he needs.
This is what it's about and is all I want to be about.
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- Friday, May 15
- 6:30pm
- Tucker Home: 2031 W. Donner Ave, Fresno 93705