Churches of all traditions are rediscovering how space can serve as a window to the sacred. Far from confining divinity, sacred space opens up the human senses to the presence of God in all the world.

Thus, baptismal water is accorded reverence because it entices us to see God's precious gift of life-giving water at a lake, stream, indoor fountain, or glass of water. The water of the font shapes our memory and trains our eyesight to recognize and remember all the promises of God which are sealed with the sign of water.

Throughout the centuries, baptismal space has been designed to open the hearts and minds of worshipers to the mystery of saving grace. One of the most enduring shapes used for this purpose is the octagon with its eight equal sides and eight angles of 135 degrees. As can be seen in the illustration to the left, the octagon takes its shape from the cross. As with other numbers in the Bible (for example: 3, 7, and 40), eight has special meaning as the day of Christ's rising. Easter is the "Eighth Day," the day of God's new creation which inaugurates the new age of God's redemption for the world. To be baptized and joined to Christ is to be born into the perpetual "Eighth Day" which has begun in Christ and awaits fulfillment at the coming of Christ (see Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; and Revelation 21:1f).

The octagonal tile design in our renovated sanctuary is a perfect complement to our beautiful baptismal font. Together, they provide us with a richly symbolic baptismal space that invites us each week to enter into the meaning of our baptism. As you approach the table to share the meal of the Risen Lord, you may notice that you actually step into and through this octagon. Whether you choose to touch the water or not, we can all be drawn into the meaning of this eight sided shape. For we come to worship each Sunday, each Eighth Day, all needing to be embrace once again as beloved servants of Christ who have died and been raised with him in baptism.

Our hope and prayer is that all who worship here will ponder in mind and heart these deep truths of God's saving love for the world:

"... I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead."
- Epistle of Barnabas XV:7

And that seventh age will be our Sabbath, a day that knows no evening but is followed by the Day of the Lord, an everlasting eighth day, hallowed by the resurrection of Christ, prefiguring the eternal rest, not only of the spirit, but of the body as well."

- St. Augustine (354-430 CE), The City of God (Book 22, Chapter 30)

"... not only is the font octagonal, but the baptistry as well, because on the eighth day, by rising, Christ loosens the bondage of death and receives the dead from their graves."

- St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397 CE)