The day Viola Boyd decided she needed a change, she got down onher knees and began to pray. Ashamed and unsure of her past, shecovered her head with a blanket to conceal herself from the worldand the eyes of God. Away from view and trying to pray, sherealized it was impossible to hide from God. She threw the coverand declared she would spend the rest of her life striving to bemore like Christ.
Although it took her 32 years, on Sunday Aug. 24, Boyd, apianist at Shaffer Chapel in Muncie, said good-bye to the ways ofworld and awakened her new spiritual self on the shores of theWhite River. It was there that she would rededicate herself to theLord.
?It?s like a couple renewing their wedding vows," Boyd said."Even though you may have gone through things over the years, youare recommitting yourself in public to what you have already workedout in private. So this time it is between me, the Lord, and theDevil.?
Boyd was 8 years old when she was baptized for the first time.Although she was baptized in a Baptist church, the AfricanMethodist Episcopal Church doctrine does not state that one must bere-baptized in order to be a member. Boyd said she was doing thisto, in a way, renew her vows with the Lord.
?I was living halfway back then?,? she said, ??And you do thingsat 15, 16, 20, even 30, when you think you are grown. I was awalking hypocrite. Then, when I came to my spiritual senses, I toldmyself, ?Either you are going to be a Christian or you?re not.? Iwant to cover all my bases, and if that means jumping out there inthe White River, that is what I am going to do.?
As Boyd walked into the cool, calm water, she had an uneasysmile on her face. When it was over, her uneasiness swept away asshe stood in the grass drying her face. The only words she saidwere, ?I feel complete now ? like a part of me that was missing hasbeen filled.?
Boyd's hopes to be baptized in the Jordan River were onceshattered by unfortunate circumstances.
?I wanted to be baptized in the Jordan River ? the same river asJesus," Boyd said. "I had my ticket and everything, but there was abombing in a mall near where we would have been staying. My parentswere afraid so we didn?t go.?
She saw this river baptism as her chance to fulfill her dream ?this time just a little closer to home.
?I never even told Pastor Winburn about going to the JordanRiver, but I think this is God?s way of letting me get the sameexperience," she said.
The Take Me to the Water service was held as an afternoonservice complete with song, testimony service and a short sermongiven by Pastor Larry McCoy of Bethel Missionary Baptist. Theold-fashioned baptism was led by Pastor Martell Winburn Sr. ofShaffer Chapel AME Church. Baptisms in the White River were oncecommon in Muncie, but have not been performed regularly for about40 years. Pastor Winburn said he set out to revive the tradition ofriver baptism after many members of his church approached him andtold him they wanted to be baptized in the river.
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