A devine morning

Today I went to church!

Those who know me may be surprised, because this not something I do very often. The people who live downstairs had invited to me to go along to see the school that is affiliated with the church.

I am currently trying to find a school for Tobias. Here in Cayman every school I have seen so far has an affiliation of some kind to a Christian church or a Christian movement. In this case it was a Baptist church. Other denomination of the Christianity on the island include Anglican, Catholicism, Church of God and Presbyterian.

Arriving there at 9.15 am, I was taken on a brief tour of the school. Nothing much to say about the school grounds - everything looked fine. Then I was placed in discussion class. The subject: the Book of Daniel (chapter 3). For more devoted Christians this is probably a well-known story, but for me it was all new. I guess I could have heard the story as a child, but it is certainly not something I remember. Anyway it is the story of three Hebrews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who defy King Nebuchadnezzar's order to bow down and worship a huge golden idol (9 stories high). As a result Nebuchadnezzar throws them into a fiery furnace (likely used when building the idol), but they are miraculously unharmed by the flames. Nebuchadnezzar sees them walking around in the furnace along with an unnamed fourth figure. When they emerge, Nebuchadnezzar orders everyone to worship their god instead of the idol. The fourth figure (who did not emerge) was the Son of God or a least that's who Nebuchadnezzar thought it was.

The story was discussed for a hour. I kept my quite, only listening. Suffice to say, discussion of Christianity is not something I do very often and I felt very much like an outsider. There was some interesting discussion though, some of which I could relate not to Christianity but to game theory and strategic interaction on the part of the Hebrews and the king.

After discussion class it was time for church. Compared to the church on Ærø where I would normally go Christmas eve, this was all high tech. Power-point presentations running lyrics to the hymns on two huge screens and top of the line sound equipment. Compare this with hymns idenified by a number listed on boards. There was a band consisting of keyboard player, drummer and guitarist. Compare with a mechanical organ. Cushioned seats vs. antic wooden benches… you get the picture. However, once the initial fascination with the physical elements subsided, it was frankly not a service that appealed very much to me. But the same is often the case in Danish churches.

Churches seem to play an extremely significant role in Caymanian society. It is evident when walking the streets on Sunday. Many native Caymanians are churchgoers. Indeed it would appear that the churches are more than religious centres - they are also community centers serving as a basis for a variety of activities.

On http://www.caymanchurches.com/ I counted 35 churches - a pretty significant amount for a population of about 45,000, of which just under half are Caymanian residents and the rest expatriates.

By the way, I met the Principal of the school after church and she me invited me for a tour on a normal everyday school day. No doubt a much better way to evaluate the school than on a Sunday morning.