Elder R. Jackson, left, and Daisy Ferguson rejoice during the baptism in Columbia on Sunday.
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Posted on 09/18/2006 10:44:23 AM PDT by Gamecock
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With the cry of “Let Jordan roll!” from the pulpit, the spray from fire hoses rained down on a pulsating crowd of worshippers, celebrating salvation and renewal Sunday in a mass baptism that covered nearly a block of Read Street.
Dueling praise bands from Columbia and Charlotte blasted a brassy, joyful noise. Men, women and children, dressed in white cotton emblematic of innocence, raised their hands to the heavens.
One young boy in his mother’s arms cried in apparent fear, but most of the tears were the kind reserved for heartfelt thanks.
“Just one sprinkle of this holy water can wash you from the inside out,” shouted Apostle O.L. Sowell of Raleigh as leaders of the United House of Prayer for All People wiggled the arc of spray over the packed street.
Many of the women sported shower caps to protect their hairdos. Some men draped towels over their shoulders. But in the end, they all seemed ecstatic to be soaked.
“I came looking for an increase in faith and spirit,” said Sandy Smith of Columbia. “And that’s what was on my mind as I was standing there.”
The United House of Prayer for All People, a nondenominational Pentecostal church with houses of worship in 24 states and Washington, D.C., has staged fire hose baptisms for decades in New York and other cities. This was the first time the annual convocation in Columbia ended beneath the spray, a change precipitated when the local church’s baptismal pool gave way to new housing near the Drew Wellness Center.
Church leaders say the source of the water isn’t important. It’s a metaphor for the water of the biblical River Jordan.
The Columbia Fire Department didn’t hesitate when asked to help with the service.
“It’s a good way to get involved in the community,” Chief Bradley Anderson said. He noted that the trucks parked on Read Street during the ceremony were available if needed at a fire, and the cost to the city was minimal.
Logistically, blessing hundreds of people with the fire hoses went more smoothly than using the old baptismal pool, said Apostle J.M. Wynn, leader of the local congregation.
A New York Times article in 2000 estimated about 500 congregants gathered for the fire hose ceremony in Harlem that year. The throbbing crowd on Read Street on Sunday likely surpassed that one in size.
They swayed to the beat of the praise bands, working up a sweat through a nearly 90-minute service before the spray was unleashed.
Much more than water washed over the crowd, Smith said a couple of hours after the ceremony. “Even now, I’m still on a high with it,” the Columbia woman said. “I’m still dwelling in the spirit that we felt today.”
I guess they didn't surrender all.
And I thought Pentecostals dunked, the picture shows sprinkling, granted it was a lot of water, but it certainly isn't dunking. They might as well use rubber snakes.
Traditionally Baptism should be triple immersion--as is practiced in the Eastern Orthodox church.
Gotta say, that's one of the more unusual baptisms I've ever seen. But, hey, whatever works. Besides, if they were dancing around outside in Columbia, at noon, in mid-September, for an hour and a half? A blast from a firehose would feel pretty darn good!
}:-)4
Today fire hoses are often used to disperse am unruly crowd. I'm uncomfortable with using a fire hose for mass baptism.
I reckon I should I shouldn't tell you about our "Big Splash o' Baptism" Wave Pool. It's just down the South Concourse past Starbucks and KFC. We wanted a Chick-Fil-A but they don't open on Sunday.
But I gotta tell ya, don't mess with them Pentecostal wimmin and their hairdos.
Kind of give a whole new meaning to the word "hosed".
Fits well with the Nehi Grape Communion Set.
And south of the Mason Dixon, as you reminded last month, RC & Moonpie is a sacrament....(or at least a town ordinance.)
Do they use one of those compressed-air guns normally used to shoot t-shirts into the stands at baseball games?
true dat
That's not a baptism; it's a party. I hope the ladies wore a LOT of undergarments before they got all wet in their white clothes.
Who are those folks?
How did this thread get resurrected? an Easter miracle?
It's not just Christ arising from the dead (though it is that as well), but it's Christ arising from his vanquishing of death and opening the gates of Heaven
The Greeks greet each other with Christo Rey on Easter -- Christ lives! Christ Reigns! Our Lord and Our God is not only alive as always but He has sacrificed Himself for us and has opened the gates of Heaven for us. Glory to God!
but why was THIS thread resurrected from 2006?
Because of the picture :) It reminds me of the crazy styles from the 60s. Makes me wonder which decade had the worst styles: the 60s, 70s or 80s!?
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