Humour & Social Status in Spain

Rafaelte Tocando la Guitarra

People are funny in Spain. I mean that in the comedy sense of the word. To be funny is to be interesting and seems to be important for social standing. One of the people at the Cabra Church who is funny is Rafaelte. He is married to Toya and they have a son Isai. Rafaelte is a gypsy.

He tells of the first gypsy church gathers in the 1970’s in Andalucia, in Carcabuey, near Cabra. The first conversions were in a Pentecostal context. The gypsies are generally are poor people. Not really having much of a social standing in Spain. The Gypsies in Carcabuey had been trying to get a place to meet as a church. They eventually found a run down old house. At there first meeting they were in a time of praise and prayer, thanking God for their new premises. One fellow shot his hands up in the air and was waving them around asking God that they might be able to feel His presence, inadvertently he touched a live electrical wire and got a massive shock and screamed out "That's enough Father, that's enough!"

Rafaelte is full of stories. He is also a fantastic flamenco guitarist (see photo). He was over in Mexico at a church over there playing. During the meeting a women who was a new Christian was asked to give her testimony. She was rather large and as she was getting up on stage, having the microphone given to her, she did a big bottom burp. As quick as a flash she said, “Satan, are you going to talk or me?!”

Which reminds me of the story of St Teresa of Avila, of which there is a new movie coming coming out. Apparently she was in the habit of praying and eating breakfast on the toilet. This is not so unusual, at least the praying bit and reading the Bible. Supposedly Luther had his great break through whilst reading Romans on the toilet. Eating on the toilet is a bit strange. Although I remember when I was in year 10, going into the toilets at Merrylands High, which didn’t have any doors and seeing a younger boy, rather large, sitting on the toilet with a cream bun in one hand and a can of coke in the other. I couldn’t see how he was going to finish the job without finishing either the coke or the cream bun! But I digress.

St. Teresa is enjoying a time of fellowship on the toilet and the devil starts speaking to here, saying what a gross sinful person she was for praying to God in such an ignoble place. She quickly replied, “The food is for me, the prayer is for God and the rest is for you!”