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Evangelical Baptism
Went to this mass Baptism at our local Evangelical Church the other evening. Some of my daughters friends were being ‘done’ and the whole thing was a bit of an event. I was pretty keen to film the whole thing for the blog but my wife pointed out that some parents might not appreciate this middle aged guy making an internet movie out of their teenage daughters being dunked, clinging wet T Shirts, etc.
So here is a sneaked mobile phone picture of the empty pool instead. Hot Tub sized, the vicar sits in the water all the way through the service while various preachers, speakers, friends and the Baptismees all speak about how good everything is. I quite liked the Karaoke style screens that enabled one to join in the awful songs - One of them just consisted of the word ‘Everything’ in various combinations, i.e Jesus is Everything, He is Everything, We are Everything, It is Everything, Everything is Everything, until one felt oneself going into a semi-hypnotic trance and passing out. There was also this slightly risque bit were they showed a map of the World to demonstrate how all the decent free, countries were Christian and all the non-democratic ones were, er, Muslim, or at least not Christian.
This might have been the point were I called out Zimbabwe? Russia? America? South America? Us? Are we really that great? But I was still recovering from the Everything Song. Joking aside, this is the future of Christianity in this country. The other denominations will keep a few oldies who like staid tradition and a sense of continuity with earlier kinder times. But the young folks, if they go to church at all, it will be Evangelical. The guitars, amps, TV Screens, dancing, swaying, the personalisation of ones religious experience, all so reminiscent of The X Factor and the busyness of modern life - that’s what the kids want.
God Bless ‘Em.
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