Having forked out £19 million for a very interesting old religious building, an upscale hotel franchise has to decide what to do with it. One option is to ignore its history. Another is to embrace it a little (Bunyan's pristine restored statue - see Part 1). In the end though, whether we are standing by Noah's half-built ark, by Jeremiah prophesying in encircled Jerusalem or at the foot of the Son of God's cross at Golgotha the unchanging inclination of an unbelieving world is to resort to mockery.
Over the years my sense of humour, not least in churches, has irked some primpy souls so it is from such a personality that I write that the way the hotel has appropriated Biblical themes in the old Baptist House is not funny at all.
I'm OK with The Baptist Grill conjuring memories of several church interviews. Or even that person who doesn't leave after church with the others but lurks, waiting for the pleasantries to be over so that they can deliver their unpleasantry!
But hereon you may like to refer to the hotel's website (click here), a venue 'Devoted to the Divine.'
'Chef Tony Fleming will preach the gospel for seasonal British ingredients'
'In an irony Oscar Wilde would have appreciated a place of piety has been transformed into a place of decadence'
'The business of L'Oscar is to put every temptation in front of its guests'
'The Baptist Bar: Succumb to Temptation . . . sip on a 'New Testament' cocktail.'
'Perfect for a late night pilgrimage'
All in all it shows up the problem of building religion into stone and not into souls. For while those who served the Lord they loved in that place are largely gone into His nearer presence where they cannot be mocked, their building and heritage in stone has fallen victim to the mercilessness of a secular age.
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