Bite sized Irony

Livetsord is a charitable institution run by a church. The churchs of this organistation are established all over the globe. They had a 5 day camp set in the Ribbengeback site just outside of Uppsala that I happened to attend. Their idea is to make people aware of Jesus Christ and his mission towards mankind ( or the likes of it). 

My previous blogs might show the boredom that a two month long summer interlude can have on students staying back here. I wanted to see what the church had in mind for the camp. Me and two good friends of mine from India were a part of it. Reached the site last monday and were allocated rooms with bunk beds. The day plan was like this- wake up, attend to personal ablution, breakfast, meeting in the church, indulge in physical activities(sports- both indoor or outdoor), lunch, back to sports, visit to a local lake for a dip and volleyball match, get back to the site for coffee and titbits, prayer and religious gathering and then dinner. A movie with a rich moral message was played on day 1- Remember the Titans, a movie that portrayed the perils an football coach of African descent had to deal with. Day 2 was 'Passion of the Christ', just to show the ordeal that ficitious individual had supposedly undergone. 'Excruciating' was the word that is derived of a person undergoing 'Crucification'. This is where the first dose of Irony was served to us, I thought. A man with strong anti-semitic belief made the movie who was convicted of beating in young fiance in America.  His name is Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, or Mel Gibson. The idea was to get the attendies curious enough to ask questions about the fiction and "accept" Christianity. 

The other members in the camp were mostly asylum seeking teenagers from Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrsgistan, Iraq, Burundi, Congo. A family that is suffering from autism. Couples and families from a generation before now who escaped persecution from Iran and have now settled in Sweden and are now ardent followers of Jesus. Jesus changed their lives, many claimed, or was it a long list of donors who share their livelihood for a charitable cause. The actual list of sincere Swedes/ individuals who made the camp happen. For the evening congregation, a greater bunch had attended. I couldn't spot a single person who was in the 30s. It was either old people on wheelchairs or people in need of some spiritual healing and or physical healing. For such people, there were prayers held by the pastor. Modern medicine had failed to help them they said. To my understanding, they chose to adhere to this placebic drug called 'praying'.  Yes, there were times when they held hands outwards while praying, with a thick frown waiting to get blessed. The lady on the piano managing the background musical score was with real skill.  

The organistion of the camp was admirable.  A group of women manged the kitchen and the cleaning regime was split to shifts for all attendies in turns. My favourite past time there was mastering my skill in the Viking game called Kubb.  The Afghan kids were like a bunch of hyenas mainly, not really knowing the actual reason that the camp meant. During church talk, there were individuals who helped translate the pastors talk. Pretty nice of them. Toddlers were a handful, chirpy lil beings hard to be held at one place. 

Funny thing, this philosophy of religion. Gets people confused if its God that makes people do good things in his name or an illusion of God that makes people do the things they do. My reasons were to observe what people perceive God to be ( if theres one). The things they do in his/her name and listen to the magic that it has brought to lives. For most, it was a get away/ past time. For others it was just fun. I had a good time. I always do in such congregations. I love my dosage of Irony from time to time.