Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Faithful Fallout

Jonathan and Samantha, a happily married couple, have just had their first baby, a lovely little girl born on Christmas Eve. Samantha and her husband decided to name the little girl, Mary,for although they were not a very conservative couple, they were somewhat religious and believed Mary an appropriate name for their baby girl, born on the night before Christmas; the very night when Mary, the Mother of God, was preparing to give birth to her own little son. Their concern was with reputed  conservative nature of the minister of their church, a newly arrived reverend, who, according to the increasingly uneasy congregation, seemed stuck in the 1950s.
"Oh praise the Lord, hallelujah!" he shouted when the couple approached him with their request in his study. " Certainly, I will Christen your little baby girl in the name of the Lord. When would you like this holy sacrament fulfilled, in the name of the Lord?
"On the fifteenth of January, 2014, Reverend. Will it be convenient for you to accommodate us on that day, Reverend? the couple responded in agreement with each other, having already thoroughly discussed and planned the event.
"Oh certainly," the minister responded. "You are members in relatively good standing in the church, except that  I think you need to draw a little closer to the lord, and a little distant from this old world. I happen to know that you, madam, assisted your school in its preparation for its participation in this year's carnival. But that will not prevent me from christening your little baby girl. She is innocent in this matter and should not suffer for your sin. What is the name of your little baby since I have to record all christenings in this book of baptisms and Christenings."
The couple responded almost in unison, "We have named her Mary."
The pastor slowly looked up at them his ashen face as frozen as an Antarctic iceberg.
"Is there a problem, Reverend? asked Jonathan.
The reverend cleared his throat.
"We decided to name her Mary after the woman in the Bible who gave birth to the child whose birthday we celebrate this time every year," Samantha haltingly revealed.
The tip of the reverend's pen rested subconsciously on the page of his registration book, leaving a wayward streak of ink across an otherwise pristine page.
"That..... is...... not what has struck me," he said. I have to tell you that I will not be able to conduct this christening if your baby's name is Mary
"Why so, Reverend?" enquired Jonathan. "Have my wife and I committed some blaspheme against the name of the Lord?
"No," responded the reverend, "but, your married title is warner. I will not be sprinkling my holy water on any baby named Mary Warner!"

No comments:

Post a Comment