Buddha and the Cowboys

'Buddha and the Cowboys' might sound like a film mash up but actually it was my experience last Friday. 

The church premises were rented by a charity for the day and they took advantage of the summer weather to use the car park at the front for selling some of their wares and to run some stalls.  It was my favourite parishioner who alerted me to the fact that they had a stall selling various staues, including a couple of big ones of Buddha.  I had to gently point out to the organisers that this was a bit of a issue for us because, "We don't really do Buddha here" and they were lovely and apologetic and there was no issue about it at all.  

Then came the cowboys.  The charity had booked a re-enactment of some wild west heroes (they got permission from the police) having a shoot out in the car park in order to attract attention.  Well it certainly did that (though I would have thought that if you were looking to draw a crowd then the sound of gunfire might not be the best ploy.  The cowboys concerned were heard to remark that the sound of the guns bouncing off the wall around them made it really loud and apparently it was loud enough to panic the bank on the corner into thinking that a real life raid was taking place.  And I thought Church Members' Meetings could get a bit wild!

I've been lying low ever since.  The last thing we need at the moment is headlines - local or national - about a gun fight in the Baptist Church car park.