Journal of European Baptist Studies, Volume 7, No. 3, 2007

ongregations in view for two reasons. First, their spirituality cannot be understood apart from the story of Lithuania and the spirituality of Lithuanian churches. Secondly, at least in my interpretation, these churches currently experience a transitory stage and, with certain distinctives retained, should increasingly integrate themselves into the Lithuanian setting. 1 Giesmiti vainikas (Kaunas: Naujasis lankas, 1998). I am one of the editors of the hymnal and so my critique goes as much in my direction as that of any other Lithuanian Baptists. On Being Called-out Strangers in the Land 27 First, even given the smallness of our Baptist community, one would still expect some expressions of (God-engrained) creativity that would have produced some local Christian songs. Yet such songs are few and not much used. Secondly, apart from the creativity of music, there is that of words which could be adapted to some existing tunes (or read as poems until someone comes up with a fitting tune). Yet that is also rare. Fanny Crosby or modern praise and worship enjoy much more popularity. This is a good illustration of our ‘strangeness’ as perceived by other Lithuanian people, even as they become more tolerant of non-Catholics. With this kind of background in mind, I would like to stop at one of the texts that I remember from my earliest years growing up in the Baptist community: that of the First Epistle of Peter. Whether it was indeed read more often than other texts during those challenging times of Soviet rule I cannot say, but I do think it has been one of the formative texts for our Baptist community. It was addressing our double not-belonging—not part of the general Soviet society and some of its practices; and not part of the Lithuanian (Catholic) tradition. 1 Peter both helps to shed light on my own Baptist community’s spirituality in terms of encountering the world, and at the same time, I will argue, points to the corrective. The background theme of 1 Peter, that of baptism, is also of help for us here. 8 For one thing, it relates to the baptistic conviction of baptism as an initiation into the body of Christ. 9 As an initiation, it also epitomises the life of the disciple —and the life of the disciples in community—in its entirety. 10 Being immersed in the baptismal waters is being immersed into the demands of the life of following the one who was immersed into death and overcame it (1 Pt 3:18-22). 11 Given the richness of the epistle, the following deliberations will be limited to two key notions found in the text: ‘strangers’ and ‘suffering’. The letter is written ‘to God’s elect, strangers in the world’ (1:1). 12 It is in the context of the strangeness of the people of God that their current experience (i.e., that of suffering) is being explained. This is why this letter Some suggest that it comprises of a baptismal liturgy and/or a sermon. Other scholars would be more reserved, but in any case