Honduras -- Shall We Gather at the River

Baptism

In recognition of the celebration of the Baptism of our Lord, celebrated in many churches, including ours, that follow the Common Lectionary in their Liturgy, we take another pause from our tour of the Ruins of Copan to "gather at the river."

This phrase is from the well known Gospel Song "Shall We Gather at the River" written by Robert Lowry in the latter half of the 19th century. Lowry was a Baptist (Northern, or what is called today "American Baptist") seminary teacher and poet. He wrote several other songs, such as "Nothing But the Blood," but "Shall We Gather at the River" is probably his best known. Part of the reason he wrote about "Gathering at the River" is that most of the Gospel songs written up until that time invoked the "River" image only in reference to death. Lowry wished to have Christians remember that the image is also symbolic of re-birth, Christ's and theirs.

I personally have never conducted a Riverside Baptism. As you will remember, I did do a few "total submersions" in the Baptistry we had at St. Luke's (St. Albans). So, I guess except for dealing with the current of a flowing river, you could say I have "been to the river."

The river pictured above is from the road leading east out of the town of Jocon in the Departmente de Yoro. Later on I'll be showing other pictures of Jocon, this area, Yoro, other countryside scenes, and, of course Camp Powerhorn and Fuertes Caminos '88.(But be patient, as I hope to return to Copan on my next post!)

I have no idea whether the river pictured above was ever used/ has ever been used for Baptisms or not. While the country of Honduras is nominally Roman Catholic(which practices infant Baptism), there is a persistent prescence of Protestantism in the countryside. Most of these "missions" are one-two person operations which flourish while the missionary(ies) is (are) there, but seem to dry up when they leave. Many of these missionaries are from groups that practice "Believers Baptism" and thus would readily use a river such as the one pictured above.

Incidentally, in case you want to know the position of our church, the United Methodist Church, regarding Baptism, I refer you to a copy of John Wesley's "25 Articles of Religion" I found on the Web. To save you the trouble, I suggest you scroll down to Article 17. Or if you want the "Official Version" go to this web site.