Baptisms
Being baptised in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Matthew Street – Rector
It was a delight on Sunday January 1st 2023 to join Denise Burrows who is in her 70’s, 20-year-old Mollie Hayward and Fleur Turner who is 52 as they shared their individual faith journeys and then reaffirmed their baptismal vows by full immersion. Following each baptism it was amazing to hear ten minutes of prophetic words for each candidate as God shared words of encouragement for each individual.
During this special service each candidate was encouraged to share their testimony prior to the reaffirmation of their infant Baptismal vows. In her testimony Fleur told how she was baptised when she was a few months old and was confirmed as a teenager but that throughout her life she had become what she described herself as being a “wishy washy Christian”.
Reading her testimony out loud in front of everyone at the service Fleur shared, “My faith came and went like the seasons and didn't get in the way of my friendships or of the things I wanted to do. And praising God certainly wasn't at the top of my to do list. In fact, being a Christian was something which at the very best was fairly important if and when it was convenient and at the very worst was something that I kept under wraps out of embarrassment at what people would think. Lord I'm so sorry for that.” Fleur described how throughout her life she had “done so many things I'm not proud of. I've been tetchy and thoughtless and impatient and careless and selfish and resentful and so many, many things.” And went on to explain that now she felt that “…it was as if my whole life had been in black and white and was now in vivid colour! Everything made sense and even if they didn't it was ok. Having Jesus in the driving seat is illuminating, it's exciting and it drives me forward day by day.”