This was linked to on another BB.  It was referred to as “Angry Jesus”, and it rather frightens me!!!

Has anyone else encountered anything that caused them to do a double-take (or burst out laughing) while visiting a church?

I remember the frescoes in the cupola of the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence depicting the Last Judgement with devils poking pokers into sinners and such—I’m sure it was meant to scare people, but it made me and a friend [a fellow Christian] laugh!

Ian.

Ian,

In the back of my parish church, St John’s, we have what looks at first like something that belongs on a grave-plot, but is in fact a white marble angel holding a clam shell - it is a font donated by “frends in England” in 1901.

I once heard a wonderful story from a Roman Catholic friend of mine.  When she was very young, she and a friend of hers decided to defy the nuns at school, and go just to have inside the ‘forbidden’ Anglican protestant church.

They walked inside the back doors, and at first thought - it seems fine; God hasn’t struck us down yet; when they turned around and were suddenly confronted by what she described as THE ANGEL OF DEATH.

They were so terrified, they ran straight out again.

I used to think it was ugly, but I have come around to finding it rather charming.  Unfortunately, it is no longer used to baptise children; there is a plain and solid looking white marble round font that is half way down the nave, for that purpose.

[quote author="Alan Dungey"]Ian,

In the back of my parish church, St John’s, we have what looks at first like something that belongs on a grave-plot, but is in fact a white marble angel holding a clam shell - it is a font donated by “frends in England” in 1901.

Blimey, we’ve got one of those at St Augustine’s Neutral Bay.

I’m all for getting rid of it, once my daughter ‘s been baptised. I’m trying to persuade the boss to do the splash in the angel-font, for the pure kitsch value. So far he is not persuaded.

[quote author="davidould"]once my daughter ‘s been baptised

Awwww...how cute! ;-)

Great story, Alan!

Interestingly enough, I think I saw one of those (or similar) at a church in Orange: it was hidden up the back in the children’s creche area!  They’re breeding! ;-)

God bless,
Ian.

[quote author="davidould"]Blimey… daughter

Crikey, I wish I could use words like “Blimey” and get away with it.

Those Eurasian girls are beautiful, aren’t they?

I baptise mine most nights. On Saturdays they get a spa baptism (don’t ask - previous owners of the house - think ‘queer eye for the straight guy’)

[quote author="davidould"][quote author="Alan Dungey"]Ian,

In the back of my parish church, St John’s, we have what looks at first like something that belongs on a grave-plot, but is in fact a white marble angel holding a clam shell - it is a font donated by “frends in England” in 1901.

Blimey, we’ve got one of those at St Augustine’s Neutral Bay.

I’m all for getting rid of it, once my daughter ‘s been baptised. I’m trying to persuade the boss to do the splash in the angel-font, for the pure kitsch value. So far he is not persuaded.

Here’s a thought, people;

In the UK a vicar has just been hauled over the coals for moving his font without proper diocesan approval.

Fonts were put in the entrance of churches for a reason - to symbolise entry into the gospel community.

how important do people think such symbolism is? Particularly with the current trend to do the baptism up front where “everyone can see”.

Is there any benefit to retaining the symbolism (other than saving kitsch angel and clam fonts)?

David,

She’s gooorrrrrgeous! Thanks so much for the link. I’m going to show off your daughter to my 9 year old daughter, reminding her that Charis is another sister-in-Christ who she hasn’t met (half the fun of having children is telling them about God and his manifold blessings and watching their eyes grow wide, then wider followed by WOW, that’s great!).

Those Eurasian girls are beautiful, aren’t they?

Absolutely. My neice is the prettiest, brightest, most good natured girl I’ve met (Japanese Aussie mix). I know she sounds too good to be true but someone has to have such children.

================================================

About laughing in church - I’ll have to confess to that one.  A relative was having his first born, a son, baptised - Greek Orthodox, full water immersion, priestly robes, the works. If your first born is a boy it is considered a great blessing & honour. As the priest held the naked boy high in the air before those assembled, dedicating him to God and asking for blessings, a high-arched stream of wee graced the air ending at the side of the pew I was standing in. I and my same aged cousin burst out in a fit of giggles. My only defence was that I was 11 at the time.

Thirty plus years on this very same child , is a lovely chap who came to my father’s funeral and was a wonderful support.

Fonts were put in the entrance of churches for a reason - to symbolise entry into the gospel community.

Thanks for mentioning that, David.

Next time I’m extolling the virtues of using the old clam-shell & angel font, I’ll slip it into the conversation.  There was some talk of moving it out into the garden, but I think Parish Council decided it was just too heavy and they would probably need a ‘faculty’.

[quote author="Alan Dungey"]

Fonts were put in the entrance of churches for a reason - to symbolise entry into the gospel community.

Thanks for mentioning that, David.

Next time I’m extolling the virtues of using the old clam-shell & angel font, I’ll slip it into the conversation.  There was some talk of moving it out into the garden, but I think Parish Council decided it was just too heavy and they would probably need a ‘faculty’.

“faculty”, that’s the word that I was looking for. That vicar in the UK didn’t have a faculty.

Blimey (again). They’re denying basic gospel truths but the only bloke taken to ecclesiastical court is the one that moves the font.

"Interesting"

Great thread,

One night many years ago I was in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney in the back row of the upper deck. I was sitting next to an evangelist, & I was drifting from the thread of the sermon. I looked behind me at the stained glass windows (which are now at the front of the cathedral since it was spun around again). There was the weirdest sight. The window was of Pentecost Sunday. The tongues of fire were coming down on the heads of the disciples. Surely the joy of the Lord was filling each of them. But it looked as if each one had simultaneously eaten a box of lemons, drunk a bottle of ribena (which some churches insist on using instead of grape juice), and thought about kissing me!!! They have the worst faces!!! They look the saddest, most depressed & most un-Pentecost-like faces I have EVER seen.

& Philip Jensen, this was even before you had thought of leaving St Matthais! so it wasn’t in response to anything that may be slurred against you.

I would reffer “Angry Jesus” as a “Buddhistic Jesus”.

Casue Jesus looks like a Buddist.

Crikey. Years ago, a church I was at on the North Shore of Sydney donated their great lump of a stone baptismal font to a church out west in one of Sydney’s growth areas. I always thought our loss was their loss.

What is a font anyway? Didn’t Jesus come offering living water?

I think the English word “font” is derived from the latin word for fountain.

Perhaps in the well-watered suburbs of Sydney, you guys could go out onto the Harbour to dunk the little fellahs and maybe a few adult converts as well; but some of us live a long way from any naturally flowing living water, and will have to make do with artificial substitutes - until the Lord returns and makes the whole land flow with milk and honey.

I have to agree though that some things yoiu find in churches are astonishingly ugly.

I think the English word “font” is derived from the latin word for fountain (i.e. flowing water).

Perhaps in the well-watered suburbs of Sydney, you guys could go out onto the Harbour to dunk the little fellahs and maybe a few adult converts as well; but some of us live a long way from any naturally flowing living water, and will have to make do with artificial substitutes - until the Lord returns and makes the whole land flow with milk and honey.

I have to agree though that some things yoiu find in churches are astonishingly ugly.

P.S.  Guys, sorry for the double-entry here.  Luke mate, can you edit one of these out?

What is a font anyway? Didn’t Jesus come offering living water?

Are you being deliberately provocative, Gordon?

oh! er… crikey