Personal Narrative - Baptism Essay

Tears poured down my face like I was in a rain forest, hugged my mom tightly as if she was a cuddly stuffed animal and I prayed, prayed like I’ve never prayed before. Not really knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. My sister arrived home, followed by my dad shortly after. While we waited to hear back from the hospital, we sat on the couch in the living room bawling our eyes out probably. Don’t worry, I will tell you about what is going on.

To say my faith life has been completely revamped in the last year would be an understatement. I had views and ideas about faith that seem somewhat vile to me know with the experiences I’ve had. From just lectures to the retreats my spiritual side has gone from that of a holiday catholic to a Campus Ministry Student. From little things to big ethic topics I’ve changed in a multitude of ways, my Spiritual Autobiography looks like looks like someone else wrote it compared to any year before it. I think faith is one of the most important aspects of our life and it took me until last year to realize it.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

“Wake up, put shoes on and come downstairs to eat,” my grandmother says as she's opening the curtains in my room. As she walks out the room, she turns around and says “Do you want tortillas with your chorizo and frijoles so I can heat a couple up.” Even though she leaves the room without my answer, in her head, already knowing my answer.

Today was a boring and very uncomfortable day for me. Everyone know my last day here at Grace Christian Center is tomorrow so everyone is telling me that they’re sorry that I’m leaving. I’m not sure if its true or not , but its nice to hear. When I walked through the doors of GCC I went straight back to my seat and started cleaning out my desk. I don’t have much in there but I want to make sure that I leave it in better shape than when I got it. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean that I have to leave my work area cluttered. After cleaning up my area I decided that I was going to go downstairs to eat lunch with the rest of the staff member, which was odd because that’s something that I normally run away from. Me and the staff ate

To many people, their community is a place where they call home, a place where they know they can go and feel like there self. It can also become their identity what they stand for.The can also call it their family. Somewhere can they can talk and form friendships.The way I came into the Baptist community is because I was raised into it so therefore, I fit best into the Baptist community by helping in outside events, being passionate and practicing the religion.

As Catholic Connections comes to a close, Ruth and I complete our service project during her visit during spring break. She had completed her side of the project earlier in the year, while back in New Jersey, and donated her and her friend’s and family’s clothes to a clothing drive at her church. I was planning to do my project alone as well, but at the beginning of the 2016 year, I was told that she and her family would be coming to visit during Spring Break. When she arrived in Utah, we had to wait until later in the week, when she had more time. When she did, we walked to a Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah Clothing donation box. With two bags of clothes in hand, we donated the clothing and spoke about how Ruth had volunteered there, when

It wasn’t sudden. Patria had been feeling uneasy for a while. And in a place; in a time, where medical assistance was a precious commodity, she would have to settle for praying. But, was it enough? Patria had been noticing, thinking, growing skeptical-- all account of her sister, Minerva Mirabal-- of her religious beliefs. “I started noting the deadness in Padre Ignacio's voice, the tedium between the gospel and communion, the dry papery feel of the host in my mouth. My faith was shifting, and I was afraid” It wasn’t just her questioning faith that had weighed heavy on her, but the immense stress and fear she held for her sister wore her down. Taking her apart, piece by piece. Would Minerva get shot down? Would she be taken prisoner and be tortured? Would she mysteriously vanish and never appear again? It was an ongoing struggle in her head, and the stress was overwhelming. Taxing. Not just on her, but on the once living infant that her womb had carried.

On Sunday, November 2 at 10:00am, I attended Shepherd’s Community Methodist church in Lakeland, Florida. It had been several weeks since I had attended church and I was looking forward to worshiping and learning from the message that would be delivered by the pastor. At a United Methodist Church the first Sunday is “Communion Sunday” and I was excited to take part in the sacrament of Holy Communion at the service. Pastor Mark Reynolds was the pastor that delivered the sermon titled “The Best Investment”.

“You’re coming to the haunted house with us Dum-Dum and that’s final,” she demanded, giving him her famous death glare. “Any objections?”

Throughout the course of organized religion both present and past, ritualistic acts of praise and worship have been practiced as a sign of both love and honor to God. Catholicism refers to these rituals as sacraments. As Christians and members of this faith, the first sacrament received by each member is Baptism. This sacrament has not only been practiced since the beginning of our faith, but has deep meaning and symbolic ties to the start of creation with Adam and Eve. I hope to prove through both illustration and published works how Baptism as a sacrament is both a sign and symbol of humanities desire to become closer to God by cleansing them of original sin through this ritual and rite of passage.

My journey with God started in February of 1993, when I went to a ladies’ conference in Columbus, Texas. It was while the speaker was explaining that she knew there were some of us out in the audience, who felt guilty about something they had done in their past, and they did not feel that God could forgive them for it. But then she quoted from God’s word; “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, no things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39 NASB) The speaker continued on to say that all we need to do is

Humans from my own point of view are God's creation, because the bible makes me understand that humans were created in God's image, and during the creation of man, God blew the breath of life into man to make him come alive. I assume the reason humans are so unique is that they were created like God. The reason why humans are the best of all creation is that they can think, invent new things, and have dominion of all other creatures on earth. Humans are the only living creation that is conscious of their own existence, because they have advanced knowledge and skills to do things, for example, humans can clothe themselves, cook their foods, and even invent numerous technologies. Humans have a well-regulated sense that is able to

Interviewing several pastors can be eye opening in that you will begin to see different character qualities, disciplines and where they are in their spiritual journey. My intention was to interview several pastors, however, I was unable to obtain the responses needed to complete a study such as that. I did get to meet with one pastor, and I believe that it was truly difficult for him to answer most of the questions even after giving him some time to think about each question. My interview was with a very intelligent and spiritual man named Les Harvey. He is currently serving at the Church of the Highlands Greystone campus under many great leaders.

“I can’t believe that’s true!” I exclaimed, my laughter echoing through the room. My grandpa and I had been chatting on the phone for the past half an hour. You would imagine a man his age would be boring and dull. However, he was quite the joker. At least with me, since I was, of course, his favorite granddaughter.