Sunday, April 12, 2009

Day 336

our friend bethany invited tyler and i to be part of her extra special easter sunday. she was getting baptized today in the bay. we agreed and went to her church near downtown that meets in a movie theater. after the service we exited the balcony and joined the progression outside and into the rain where people scattered to their cars to reassemble at the nearby coast. cool wind and steady drizzle made my rain jacket barely substantial and i wasn't even one of the seventeen who were getting dunked. there'd been a video cut together and shown in the service of their testimonies and even at the waterfront it was apparent that bad weather didn't make much of a difference to these people on this day.

the tide on kits beach this morning was at a twenty five year low and dozens of church clothed people tiptoed a few hundred feet across the shells and exposed seaweed to the edge of the water. half submerged in rain and grey waters and skies, each baptistee went out for their turn. massive boats and rigs floated in the not so distant horizon. i looked around and found i was kind of excited. here were a crowd of over a hundred people publicly watching a smaller group of seventeen shout their professions of faith from the cold ocean. what a special combination of days.

bethany's small group was having a party for her and another girl afterward and we'd been invited. little did we know that it was in vancouver's richest neighborhood and at the property of the owner of the vancouver canucks nhl team. the finely decorated farm house was adjacent to stables and some people were riding horses wearing jackets in the rain as we walked up the driveway. ol' francesco aquilini wasn't around or anything but it could have been cool if he was. still, the party was filled with fine cheeses and raw salmon and crackers and an endless omelet bar and everyone ate and dried off and met and conversed.

the combinations of the elements of going to an outdoor baptism on easter combined in a profound union. happy easter.

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