Junkanoo Funeral & Church

 Saturday after we dropped the Gaugers off for their return flight home, we decided to head 15 miles back down to Governor's Harbour to check out a local church service on Sunday morning.

Enroute, an oil pressure sensor began acting kind of weird. Just as we entered the bay at Governor's Harbour, the engine alarm went off signaling the sensor had quit altogether - argghhh. Needless to say, we dropped the anchor as quickly as possible before we had to shut the engine down.

Fortunately, Jim was able to locate the problem and rectify it without having to resort to an old mostly non-functioning sensor we had stashed away in our spares. PTL!

Once we confirmed the engines were OK, we headed to town in the dinghy to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store and ran smack dab into the middle of an amazing funeral procession, parade and party - - Bahamian style. It was full of joy, dancing, a Junkanoo band and lots of participants. It was quite a testimony to the lady who had just passed. Even the pall bearers at the back of the procession were dancing!

We decided this is the way to leave this world! What a great way to remember the life of a loved one and what a great testimony to non-believers as to the power of eternal life in Jesus Christ!

The lady's church had created this lovely banner for her. The funeral party started here at the church and took maybe an hour to go the short distance to the cemetery.

Below is the banner they carried in front of the procession.

Though we felt a little odd walking through the procession, taking pictures and short video clips as we went, no one seemed to mind. In fact, we saw quite a few people taking videos with their phones.

We hope you enjoy this short video of this inspirational procession!

Sunday morning dawned clear and calm with a spectacular golden sunrise. It was stunning to watch it rise behind the steeple of the Anglican church!

We dinghied in to the sandy beach at 10:30 in order to be at the Methodist church by 11:00.

The pastor greeted us at the door and apologized, in advance, for what would likely be a longer service than normal. This was their first service of the new year and would be a special covenant service in which they renewed their covenants with God for the coming year. They also had special music and celebrated communion. Between the electronic Allen pipe organ, drums, tamborine & keyboard, the music was - - interesting. :-)

In spite of being under dressed and with a pile of sand under our seats from the dinghy ride, we were warmly welcomed & even had to take the mic to share where we were from!

The pastor was right. At 2 hours long, the service was a bit long. However, we were glad we went. It was a great way to start the new year.