Lost and Found

Notice on door in Radford

This is a special way of being afraid

No trick dispels. Religion used to try,

That vast moth-eaten musical brocade

Created to pretend we never die

From Aubade by Philip Larkin (first published in 1977)

Afflicted as I am with thanatophobia, I would dearly love to believe in an afterlife. Sadly, I remain an agnostic, but there are, of course, many around me who do subscribe to some sort of belief system whereby death is not the end (the idea of not having any such beliefs and yet still not being afraid of the grim reaper is another conversation entirely).

Local adherents of the Celestial Church of Christ meet in a building at the corner of Kyme Street and Denman Street East in Radford. The church has its origins in Benin, West Africa, and was founded by Samuel Oshoffa in 1947 after he had a divine revelation while lost in a forest (somewhat conveniently, he was wandering around for forty days and forty nights).

How the Celestial Church of Christ differs from all of the other religious groups in Nottingham and elsewhere, I am not qualified to say.

Samuel Oshoffa is said to have gained his first converts following the not-unimpressive act of resurrecting his nephew. Also of note is a report that he had acquired 34 wives and accumulated 150 children by the time he died in 1985. Interestingly, the church's website states that it 'does not encourage polygamy,' though the wording does seem to leave a little wiggle room for those of a polygamous disposition.

On the evidence of a video showing one of their services, the members of the Nottingham chapter of the Celestial Church of Christ seem like a very jolly bunch indeed. Good luck to them.