My Baptism

Today is a red-letter day in my life, the day I was finally baptized, baptized in the name of our Lord the father, the son, and the holy spirit (although I did not state that I believe in that part just yet because I don't know what it is.) And on Easter Vigil no less!

This morning I woke up believing it to be just another ordinary day. I had agreed to sing the service tonight at the Wellesley Congregational Church, right there on the Wellesley Common near the Ann Taylor. My only motivation was 30 pieces of silver - and maybe a corn muffin between tomorrow's services - but I left with so much more.

Tonight, between the baptism of children and the shoutings of Alleluia! a pair of tweens came around to all the congregants with bowls of water and short evergreen branches and flicked us all with the sacramental mist. There was no room for a good, unbaptized Quaker girl to run, so I endured what so many of my brethren have before me. The music director suggested we put away our music and glasses. As I was reaching for my face, a drop of water hit one single spot on my skin: the back of my curse finger on my left hand. Alleluia! Is it now my blessed finger? Will it be the one part of me that glimpses heaven, while the rest of me bobbles in purgatory?

The festivities due to such an occasion proceeded apace. There was an interpretive dance with a song from the "contemporary" service. An adult dancer in a black dress and barefoot, a blue scarf tied around her waist as she moved about the flowers and the communion table, now facing us, now lifting her arms heavenward, now turning away, teasing like a dance of the seven veils. Her trunk and arms were held with such cruciform rigidity that she nearly toppled over twice.

But wait, judge not, right? I'm new to the chosen, you see. Bread was offered to the saved, pitas or gluten free. And wine, although they serve grape juice now. Could I partake? Were my sins washed away with the twitch of that awful tree? I did not risk God's fury to find out. The evening concluded (delightfully) with a piece for chorus and baritone solo, with instructions to sing caldamente.....