Circumcision Season

The past few days I have been reminded of some random experiences from living overseas. I thought that I would write a bit about them in order to share the experiences a bit but also so that I can remember them better in the future.
In the Philippines, there exists a time of the year sometimes referred to as circumcision season. Now I am no expert on circumcision, but I always just thought it happened soon after baby boys were born (if it was going to happen). I was soon to find out though, that even the timing of circumcision is culturally determined. In the Philippines, most boys wait until the age of 12 or 13 to get circumcised. When a young boy reaches the age of 12 or 13 and circumcision season rolls around (April and May if I remember correctly), they partake in a painful experience that can happen many different ways. I will spare you the details, but I will say that I talked with some of my Filipino friends about this and they shuddered as they recalled their trip down to the river to get the job done.
The part that was even more odd for me was that at this time of year, signs would pop up all around Metro Manila advertising "Circumcision Specials" and telling of their wonderful deals on circumcision. While these specials were advertised for about $9 or $10 this is still a large sum in the Philippines and many cannot afford that. Thus "trips down to the river" or some other discreet location near the family home.
By far the oddest part of the whole situation was that some missionaries have found ways to utilize this special season for their own purposes. While it wasn't incredibly common, we did hear of missionaries and churches that would hold an evangelistic event and they would offer free circumcisions in order to attract people to hear their message! Now I have heard of seeker friendly churches, and people who put on concerts or any number of other events to attract people to church or evangelistic outreaches. Just think of the poor boys though - they get dragged to a public event where people are preaching, singing praises to God, and praying for people and they are directed to the back of the crowd in a small room or tent (depending on the venue) and then IT happens! I guess we can just hope that these outreach events are organized by charismatic churches so that the screaming and moaning of teenage boys from the back of the room doesn't disrupt the solemn singing of hymns...
Overall, I am not sure I would want my "conversion" expereince to involve the painful loss of part of my body, but I guess you would at least have people there ready to pray for you! Anyway, I am glad that we perform that procedure under a bit different circumstances, but I suppose even in our culture it can be an uncomfortable and humorous event. I hope that this can motivate you to think about how we "reach out" to others with love in order to share with them the love of God.