Floating Our Boat

 Floating Our Boat

(Note to Reader: Today we’re back to “River Crossings”, excerpts from our stay in Thailand a few years ago. We will intersperse these with “Real Time” reports from along the road as we make our circuitous journey back home to Australia. For today, please enjoy…)

This week we experienced one of Thailand’s huge festivals known as “Loy Krathong”, which roughly translated I think means something like “Float Your Boat”. According to what we can work out with our limited Thai, it began about a thousand years ago, when someone made a “krathong”, or a basket out of banana leaves, and put in it all of their bad feelings and ‘sins’, lit a candle on it and floated it away on the river. A beautiful image, when you think about it, and one which no one in our line of work would want to miss.

Of course, we didn’t go to the river to float away our sins. In fact, we didn’t even go to the river. As it turned out, there were a few hundred thousand folks who opted to go instead to our very own shopping area, where there’s an adjoining park with a beautiful meandering pond running through it. Not exactly your “sins down the river” type venue, but just the ticket for those of us who were more interested in the party atmosphere than the deeper spiritual meaning. Lots of families turned out, and it was refreshing to see them truly enjoying the night, taking pictures, lighting fireworks and launching their not-so-sturdy crafts into the waiting jaws of the huge carp who lurk just under the surface. Most of the boats were made of bread, so it was a real feast all around. Pity the poor pond, which I think will take until this time next year to recover!

We met a LOT of kimono-clad Japanese in the park, which is not surprising, since the whole festival looks and feels a lot like “Obon”, a summer festival back in Japan when you pay respect to your ancestors while at the same time get in some serious party-making. We even found a family from Sendai, our hometown for 20 years. It was so good talking to them and inviting them to church. I do so hope we’ll see them again.

So, it was a good evening, even though both Loy Krathong and Obon are kind of sad, when you think about it. Just imagine having no reasonable way to deal with your sin and grief except to chuk some bread into the river and hope for the best. We listened to a Thai pastor last Sunday who shared a real gem. He said, “Whenever people ask me, ‘Can a Christian participate in Loy Krathong?’I tell them, ‘Absolutely! And when you make your boat, make sure you top it off with a little cross right in the center. When you release it into the water, tell the people around you, THAT’S where my sin and sorrow is going: as far as the east is from the west, thanks to the cross of Jesus!’”

We’re already making plans for next year’s celebrations. Anybody got some ideas for a waterproof bread boat topped with a cross? Love ya,

Marsha

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away

the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)


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