I learned some stuff today. Well, to be honest, I’ve learned a lot of stuff every day I’ve been here, but this one is special. I didnt know, for example, that the place where Joshua brought the Israelites into the Promised Land was the same place where later Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Yep, and we got to go there and have a baptismal remembrance, and one of the members of our group gave her statement of faith and was baptized right there in the Jordan River. Whoa powerful. Yes, of course I cried. I cry in church for baptisms of people I don’t even know personally. What can I say, my emotions move regularly!
It was actually rather remarkable that we could do this. The last time pastor brought a crew to Israel, they could not do it. The Jordan River is the boundary line between Israel and Jordan. About 25 years ago, there was a war going on in this area, you may have heard of the West Bank. This is the area we were in, just north of the Dead Sea. They used to mark the land mines that are all along the coast for one day a year and allow civilians safe passage through the mine field to this spot so they could see this important place in history. Now, there is a full road with a visitor center where pilgrims can purchase a gown and towel to remember their baptism with full immersion.
The fence is a deadline, showing where the minefields start, so you don’t want to wander past the fence. Ya, good tip.
There area some neat buildings and churches out in this area too. I like this mosaic on the one right by the water.
Several of our group chose this option, with the rest choosing to be sprinkled…to receive a blessing from pastor as he stood in the Jordan and asked us how we are named, and gave us the sign of the cross on our forehead and on our heart.
Here’s the area of the Jordan where it all happened. The water was murky and COLD. A man there wanted to take our group picture to sell it to us. The ones dressed in white he called angels. When he lined us up he said “Angels in the front, Gentiles in the back.” That got a pretty good chuckle from the group!
Pastor blessing Evan.
I put my feet in the water. The white scarf that the Bedouin man wrapped on my head was like a white garment for this baptism remembrance. I like it.
There was also a definite reminder that while this is for the moment a peaceful place, it is still a border between countries that are, shall we say, leery of each other still? There were soldiers with big ole machine guns walking around the property, and their mirrors on the other bank, like 15 feet away.
That’s the Jordan side in the background. There were soldiers over there too, and not far away, and they were watching.
All in all, a very emotional and spiritually powerful place. A tremendous experience. I don’t have the right superlatives to convey it properly.