We were at a baptism today, conducted early in the morning at a nearby lake. It was expected to be a fairly private affair, with only a few friends and family present, but about a dozen strangers were there, including one very old man styling in a three-piece suit and fedora with a cane and a waist-fob on his vest.
Afterwards, the old man commented, “magnificent, magnificent.” And when I expressed my surprise at the presence of him and the others from the community who didn’t know the individual being baptized, he gestured around us to indicate everyone present. “Ah, but we are the Village of Light,” he said.
We will survive this present darkness. We know how the story ends.