Who am I . . . Really?

This morning I met a girlfriend at the coffee shop. The room seemed to fill with sunshine when she stepped in the doorway. Two men turned and watched her walk to my table. I smiled to myself and
felt pretty by association.

As we talked about life and kids and work, her laughter rang around us like a lilting melody. I wondered how she was consistently so full of life and cheerful. As if she heard the unspoken question, she began to talk about the transforming work of Christ in her life.

Her eyes danced. “There is nothing I can do to make him love me more. He loves me. He just does. I’m his princess. I don’t have to try to be. I just am.”

Sounds like a perfectly put-together life. Right?

She sipped her cappuccino, then continued. “I choose to walk in that truth rather than get bogged down in all the other.”

The other, I wondered. What weights was this radiant person deliberately throwing off? Fortunately, she told me.

Due to, according to her, some mistakes in her youth and victimization by others, she had more than one divorce behind her and children who were confused as to who they were. She said, “As a child, I never dreamed that would happen. I struggle with shame and guilt.”

I looked into those clear, dark eyes. Shame and guilt did not fit in the picture.

 Her voice softened. “The Lord gave his life to provide an abundant, rich, and overflowing one for me. Every day, I can realize I am the Lord’s precious one or be crushed under the lies the devil would heap on me. I choose to believe the truth.”

Ahh. Her secret. She knows who she is. A precious one.

As I reflected on her words, I glanced at a picture of my new granddaughter. She came much later than the rest of the kids, and we are all silly over her. Could any of us love her more?  That doesn’t bear considering.

I pray we can see ourselves through the Lord’s eyes. His treasured ones. Just like we are this minute.

Jason Gray must have been pondering this when he wrote his insightful lyrics.

Tell me, once again

Who I am to you, who I am to you

Tell me, lest I forget

Who I am to you, that I belong to you

If I’m your beloved, can you help me believe it?

The Secret of Contentment

 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. (1 Timothy 6:6)

My husband and I are blessed to still have both of our fathers. Mical’s dad will be one hundred this year and mine is fast approaching that age.

We recently had the pleasure of my father spending a week with us. Last night, as Mical and I sat in the courtyard, we reflected on their lives. 

They both have sharp, quick minds. They love the Lord and if you spend ten minutes with them, they will tell you so. We were reminded of how few their needs are now. With a good meal and clean clothes, they’re happy as clams.

That wasn’t the case when they were younger. Raising their families, they worried and fretted over money and how to keep us all fed. Somehow, everything worked out, and none of us starved. (To the contrary, most of us are overweight.)

I pondered the advice of an older man to his son. Paul said to Timothy,
Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

In the frustrations and busyness of life, we can lose sight of the important. As dusk fell, and the scorching August heat abated, Mical and I recommitted ourselves to the grace of contentment. An amazing thing happened next. The peace of God descended and enfolded us. Whispering across the centuries, I heard Paul's voice again.

 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Early Christian Baptisms--in the Nude?

 

 

I love reading and writing historical fiction. Not only do I get absorbed in a fascinating story, I learn the culture of the day. My novel is set in the first century. My research of the life of the first century church has spanned over five years.

One of the interesting subjects I came across was nude baptisms. I was first shocked and then intrigued to learn more. Was it true? Was it widespread or just done in random areas? I started with the early church fathers.

Cyril of Jerusalem, a distinguished theologian of the fourth century, addressed the persons to be baptized. “As soon as ye came into the inner part of the baptistery, ye put off your clothes, which is an emblem of putting off the old man with his deeds, and being thus divested, ye stood naked, imitating Christ, that was naked upon the cross, who by his nakedness spoiled principalities and powers, publicly triumphing over them in the cross. Oh wonderful thing! Ye were naked imitating the first Adam that was naked in paradise, and was not ashamed.”

The archbishop of Constantinople, St. Chrysostom, an important early church leader and contemporary of Cyril of Jerusalem, in part of a longer passage, stated, “In baptism, a man is naked that he might be freed from sin.”

St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, of the same era wrote, “Men came as naked to the font (of baptism), as they came into the world.”

St. Amphilochius, the Bishop of Iconium in the fourth century, spoke of his baptism. “He arose with fear and put off his clothes, and with them the old man.”

At this point in my research, my face turned red and I felt the need to defend a position of propriety. I quoted Paul from I Timothy. ‘Women are to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly.’ I sighed, poured another cup of coffee and decided I must not impose my twenty-first century filter, so I continued.

I posed the next question. Surely men and women were not baptized together? Thankfully, I found the answer to be no. According to the Apostolic Tradition, small children were baptized first, then men and finally the women.

The Didascalia, a Christian treatise written about 220 AD, states a woman is to have her head anointed by a male minister. Then a female deacon assists the woman and receives her as she comes out of the water, traditionally, wrapping her in a white robe. There is evidence that many baptisteries had curtains or panels for privacy. .

Another thing that leads me to believe baptism was likely done in the nude were the depictions of nude baptism in a great many forms of art in the early centuries, including those in the catacombs. The image on the right is a catacomb painting depicting the baptism of Jesus. 

This blog is to share my journey. I decided not to portray nude baptism in my book. The great truth of baptism is that we are identified with our Lord in his death and resurrection. In an effort to keep the focus on the Him, I chose to bypass the controversy over whether baptism was done nude or clothed.

I’d love to hear from you if you have anything to add or discuss.