Worshipping in Heavy Metal Heaven
This is pretty weird. The Guardian reports:
Metanóia, a second-floor church that attracts a small but dedicated group of followers, is testimony to the diversity and complexity of Brazil’s pick ‘n’ mix culture.
The setting is studiously gothic. In one corner a skeletal grim reaper peers out from an open coffin. In another, a skull is chained above a dusty Bible. The walls are decorated with spiders, bats and saw blades. Black crucifixes dangle from the ceiling. On the altar, between a tabernacle and a sword, sits a goat skull pierced by a jewelled dagger. Behind it, a giant banner declares, “Jesus Christ is Lord of the Underground.”
The message is underscored by the founding pastor Enok Galvão. “Here in the underground, in our own way, we welcome God into our hearts,” the tattooed preacher declares to his congregation, who raise their fists to the heavens and declare, “Praise be to the Lord.”
Once his sermon is over, the music – and the moshing – begins. Four bands, ranging from soft evangelical rock to hardcore Christian death metal, take the mood as far from a traditional church choir as can be imagined.
One of the vocalists Joab Farias, a bank employee with a long beard and a black ear stud, specialises in the guttural growls of death metal.
“To me it’s really natural. I see no reason not to use this kind of voice for worship,” he explains. “Music is a realm of complete freedom.”
Many of the congregants are dressed in the uniform of metal fans the world over: beards, tattoos and black band T-shirts. Their enthusiasm is infectious.
One of the older members, José-Carlos Ribeira spoke with the excitement of a teenager as he recalled a recent 10-hour trip to São Paulo to see a Dave Gilmour concert. “I waited decades to see him,” he grinned. “For me, rock came first and then religion. Enok took eight years to convert me. Now Jesus is the most important thing in my life.”
This video is worth watching. Quite incredible in one sense, due to the incongruity from received cultural stereotyping, but completely obvious and normal in another.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HS7MDPsdu8[/youtube]
The Guardian continues:
Metanóia is not alone. There are three other metal churches in Rio and several more in São Paulo and other cities. They have their own guardian angel, according to members of the congregation who claim to see visions.
“Sometimes at some services an angel comes here in the image of a headbanger. He has army boots, black trousers with chains and wears bracelets. His hair is long and he’s shirtless. We had visions of him dancing in the middle of the people here. We’ve seen him three times. He should be the angel who protects us,” says Galvão, whose wife – a partner in the mission – claims to have seen Jesus several times.
While many non-Christians and non-metalheads may mock, it is the spiritualism as much as – if not more – than the metal that draws believers.
What would Jesus do, these days? Would he be pierced, tattooed and walking amongst the Goths and rockers? Or is that to ask what a unicorn would do if it were to wander amongst us?