Jordan pictures: Baptism
Dec. 9th, 2005 05:01 pmSince this morning was the third Friday in Advent, our Gospel reading was the section in John 1 about John the Baptist doing his thing at Bethany-over-Jordan. We also had a baptism at church, and a new font was dedicated for the occasion. All this baptism-related activity prompts me to post a first round of pictures from our trip to Jordan.
So here you go: pictures of Al-Maghtas, the purported location of Bethany-over-Jordan.
Hmm. Now that I've been to the place where the Buddha reached enlightenment and the place where Jesus first heard the voice of God, how many more liminal places would I have to visit to collect the whole set? Let's see, there's Mount Sinai for Moses, Mount Hira for Muhammad....
And, while I'm at it, here's another interesting baptism-related picture from Jordan: the fifth-century baptistry at an early Byzantine church in Petra. There aren't many baptistries this old still around, apparently. The font itself is in the shape of a cross, but attached to it is a second, round font. The plaque outside the baptistry said that this has been taken as evidence of infant baptism in the fifth century church, since only a baby could be immersed in such a small basin.

So here you go: pictures of Al-Maghtas, the purported location of Bethany-over-Jordan.
Hmm. Now that I've been to the place where the Buddha reached enlightenment and the place where Jesus first heard the voice of God, how many more liminal places would I have to visit to collect the whole set? Let's see, there's Mount Sinai for Moses, Mount Hira for Muhammad....
And, while I'm at it, here's another interesting baptism-related picture from Jordan: the fifth-century baptistry at an early Byzantine church in Petra. There aren't many baptistries this old still around, apparently. The font itself is in the shape of a cross, but attached to it is a second, round font. The plaque outside the baptistry said that this has been taken as evidence of infant baptism in the fifth century church, since only a baby could be immersed in such a small basin.
