A Day in the Life: Church

One of the biggest blessings of my semester here... Mountainview International Church. I have never been in a more welcoming, excited, passionate community before. I will miss you, dear friends.


Madrid, Spain - Mountainview Church from Christian Associates on Vimeo.

-- EDIT --

Today was a baptism Sunday. Four of my friends were baptized, either for the first time or as a renewal. A father baptized his son with contagious

joy. Despite having been raised in the whole church scene, I've somehow missed the sheer joy of what baptisms can be. Obviously, the symbolic weight of the moment is quite important, but how often do we, Americans, get to see the pastor slide down the ramp into the pool, not knowing how deep it gets, while another guy paddles out a ways on his back and splashes him playfully, all laughing at the utter absurdity of it all. And make no mistake, it is absurd, from any way you look at it... which is what the sermon (1 Cor 1) was about. Christianity doesn't make much sense from the front. But there was so much joy in the moment, celebrating together - the whole congregation trooping out the door over to the swimming pool, donning blue surgical shoes and crowding around to watch, laughing at the spectacle. I think this is probably what it looked like at the Jordan. You know, baptismals are convenient, but I think we miss a lot because the rest of us become passive observers clapping politely, and it becomes a ceremony rather than a celebration. We are a comfortable Church, but it's worth wondering how appropriate 'comfortable' is in the context of the Church. In any case, the Family grew a bit today : )

Richard, Tori, Daniel

Richard, Isaac, Larry